The Decline of the Oil Era... BP Acquires Electric Vehicle Charging Company

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] The global oil company British Petroleum (BP) is investing in building electric vehicle infrastructure in preparation for the post-oil era.

On the 7th (local time), Bloomberg reported that BP has agreed to acquire Ample Power, a U.S. electric vehicle charging company. Specific acquisition terms, including the purchase price, were not disclosed.

Richard Bartlett, Senior Vice President of Future Mobility and Solutions, stated in a press release, "The acquisition of Ample Power will provide an ideal opportunity to expand our electric vehicle charging business within the United States."

Ample Power is an electric vehicle charging management company headquartered in California, serving trucks, public transportation, school buses, vans, and general vehicles.

BP announced the acquisition along with plans to expand its electric vehicle business in the U.S. BP already operates EV charging stations in the U.S. and plans to use this acquisition as a stepping stone to significantly expand its EV charging network. The company aims to increase the current 11,000 EV charging stations to over 70,000 by 2030.

BP intends to expand EV charging facilities and utilize them as a retail distribution network to create new revenue streams. Through this, it aims to double the global revenue from its convenience and mobility sector, which was around $5 billion in 2019, by 2030.

Earlier, the European oil major Royal Dutch Shell also entered the EV charging business by acquiring NewMotion, Europe's largest EV charging company, in 2017 in preparation for declining oil demand.

Bloomberg views the EV business as central to BP's transition into an integrated energy company. Under pressure from investors to accelerate its shift to a low-carbon energy company, BP has invested in research and development of carbon reduction methods and the growth of electric vehicles to reduce emissions.

BP has set a goal to achieve carbon neutrality (net zero) by 2050 and plans to reduce investments in existing oil and gas businesses while expanding investments in low-carbon businesses in the mid to long term. As part of this, last year BP invested $500 million in low-carbon technologies, including electric vehicle battery charging systems and solar power.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.