Shell, the fuel giant, has announced its bold plan to install 500,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations worldwide by 2025, with a target of reaching 2.5 million by 2030. The company’s Vice President of Global Mobility Network, Min Yih Tan, shared the news at the Asia Pacific EV Charging Infrastructure 2023 conference in Singapore. Tan’s role encompasses the development of Shell’s low carbon fuels infrastructure, including its EV charging capabilities.
According to Tan, Shell has already more than tripled its EV charging network to 140,000 chargepoints worldwide in the past three years. The company is working with several partners, including supermarkets, to provide destination charging. Tan stated that Shell is installing a new EV chargepoint every 15 minutes, on average.
In his speech, Tan emphasized the importance of collaboration and cooperation with other industry players and the need for increased public funding for charging infrastructure. He acknowledged that the transition to e-mobility will take several years and emphasized the need for mandates to ensure its success.
Shell is collaborating with several automotive industry partners, including BYD and Porsche, as well as NIO, a Chinese EV manufacturer, with whom it is operating a battery swapping initiative. In August 2022, the company acquired SBRS, a German-based provider of charging infrastructure solutions for commercial EVs, including e-buses, e-trucks, and e-vans.
Tan also highlighted that regional imbalances in EV adoption are already emerging, with China producing almost half of the world’s EVs in 2020. Despite slow progress in countries like India and the Philippines, he cited research from Frost & Sullivan, which showed that these countries are now exhibiting even greater interest in EVs than Germany, Norway, and the US.
