UK BP Pursues Acquisition of Tesla Supercharger Infrastructure

British petroleum company British Petroleum (BP) is pushing to acquire sites for Tesla's electric vehicle charging network, the 'Supercharger.' It also plans to recruit personnel from Tesla's Supercharger team who were laid off.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

On the 9th (local time), BP stated in a press release, "Following Tesla's recent announcement, we are actively seeking real estate acquisitions as part of network expansion." BP Pulse, BP's electric vehicle charging division, plans to negotiate with property owners who can enter into development contracts for Tesla Superchargers and secure available sites.

Earlier, Tesla laid off most of the approximately 500 personnel, including Rebecca Tinuchi, who was responsible for the Supercharger infrastructure, in response to declining sales. Additionally, Tesla CEO Elon Musk personally declared that the pace of charging station expansion would slow down. Immediately after, some Supercharger construction projects and discussions underway in the U.S. were withdrawn, raising nationwide concerns about delays in electric vehicle adoption. BP has seized this opportunity to move forward.

Sujay Sharma, CEO of BP Pulse America, told Bloomberg News, "Real estate partners can feel free to call me or contact me via LinkedIn." He also clearly expressed his intention to recruit talented individuals who can help growth and to actively seek real estate opportunities, including personnel from Tesla's laid-off Supercharger team.

BP has already announced plans to invest $1 billion in electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the U.S. by 2030. Half of this, $500 million, was intended to be spent within 2 to 3 years to secure 3,000 charging stations. Previously, BP signed a $100 million contract last year to procure Tesla Supercharger hardware.

Bloomberg News quoted Badar Khan, CEO of EVgo, who analyzed Tesla's announcement as "a significant change in the dynamics of charging station competition," saying, "Competitors see Tesla's situation as a positive opportunity to increase market share." EVgo is also recruiting laid-off Supercharger team personnel from Tesla and negotiating with property owners.

Tesla currently operates more than 57,000 Superchargers at over 6,200 locations worldwide. On this day, Tesla's stock price closed down 1.57% compared to the previous session on the New York Stock Exchange.

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