BP planning EV charging on UK forecourts – presumably those with a Wild Bean Cafe

BP is in talks with makers of electric cars to install electric car charging points at its UK fuel stations as the fuelling model for cars starts to change.

You do have to wonder how big oil companies are going to change their business model as the world tries its best to move away from fossil fuels, and cars move towards electric as the favoured method of propulsion.

At the moment it’s far from clear how the rise and rise of vehicle electrification will impact on oil companies, but BP is starting to fiddle a bit at the edges of this conundrum with plans for electric car charging on their UK forecourts.

According to Reuters, BP’s CEO Bob Dudley has said BP are in talks with makers of electric cars with a view to rolling out charging points on forecourts across the UK, which we assume will be in addition to the need to provide them on motorways service stations recently announced in the Queen’s Speech.

In many ways, this makes a lot of sense for BP, if for no other reason than it brings new customers to the forecourt; customers who will spend money.

But it’s not the money forecourt visitors spend on fuel that matters, but what they spend in the coffee shop and on in-store treats.

And the beauty of drawing in EV drivers is that they will have time on their hands whilst their car refuels, time which can be spent bashing their debit cards on a bag or three of chocolate treats, a sizzling bacon bap and half a gallon of coffee.

Or is that just us?