BP dips its toe in to EV charging with ‘Mobile’ 50kWh chargers

BP has made an investment in mobile charging company Freewire and plans to roll out electric car charging facilities at a number of petrol stations in the UK and Europe.

As the car landscape changes and more and more of us buy cars with some form of electrification – be that plug-in hybrids or proper BEVs – petrol forecourt operators are looking at their business model to future-proof it.

Shell is busy developing the Ionity fast charging network with BMW, VW, Mercedes and Ford – and rolling out EV charging in the UK.

BP is aiming to play too, revealing plans for EV charging in the UK, although without any real specifics. But now BP has its plan.

It’s invested a modest £3.5 million in Freewire, a US company delivering ‘mobile’ charging, so it can start offering EV charging facilities on UK and European forecourts.

Unlike Shell, which is investing in fixed charging stations, the BP one will use the Freewire system which is effectively a big battery charged from the mains which can then be wheeled round the forecourt to offer 50kWh fast charging.

Tufan Erginbilgic, BP Downstream CEO, said:

Using FreeWire’s mobile system we can respond very quickly and provide charging facilities at forecourts where we see the greatest demand without needing to make significant investments in today’s fixed technologies and infrastructure. The opportunity also to explore options for providing charging services away from our existing retail sites makes FreeWire an ideal partner for BP.

Freewire say their Mobi Charger DCF, which is the one BP appear to be using, offers compatibility with CHAdeMO or Tesla standards and deliver 50kWh charging for up to 10 vehicles in a day.

BP hasn’t revealed details of exactly when and where the new charging facilities will be offerd, but say it will be at ‘selected retail sites’ during 2018.