The oil company BP is going on the offensive with its Aral gas station brand: the number of charging options is set to increase significantly. However, BP Germany boss Wendeler would like to see even more speed.
Germany’s largest gas station chain Aral wants to increase the number of its ultra-fast charging points with at least 150 kilowatts of charging power more than tenfold by 2030. The current network of more than 1,700 charging points should grow to 5,000 charging points by 2025 and up to 20,000 charging points by 2030, said the parent company BP Europa in Bochum.
The prerequisite is that the authorities further accelerate the pace of approval and network access. There are also plans to offer charging solutions specifically developed for electric trucks as well as other lower-CO2 energies to power vehicles.
Criticism of the length of the procedure
In an interview with the German press agency dpa, BP Europe boss Patrick Wendeler complained that the process often took too long to expand the charging network. “There are currently a double-digit number of locations that could go live, but still have to wait for network connections or approvals.”
Depending on the federal state and regional energy supplier, the approval procedures are very complex. “In some cases we wait up to two years for approval,” said the 51-year-old.
It’s on
According to the Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry, there were almost 101,000 public charging points for electric cars in Germany at the beginning of July, of which around 10,300 were ultra-fast charging points, i.e. charging options with a charging capacity of 150 kilowatts or more.
According to the Federal Network Agency, almost 6,500 operators in Germany maintain publicly accessible charging points. The energy suppliers EnBW, Eon and EWE as well as the electric car manufacturer Tesla each operate several thousand public charging points.
Even more plans at BP
In addition to its German charging station plans, the British oil company BP shared key points for converting its German subsidiary into an “integrated energy company”. Accordingly, the production and sale of refined products should remain the main business areas.
They should be supplemented by growing, lower-CO2 business areas, it said. In the direction of 2030, he sees a “broader positioning” for BP in Germany, said Wendeler, according to the statement.
The company announced investments of up to ten billion euros in Germany by the end of 2030. In addition to the further expansion of the charging infrastructure, the money will flow into, among other things, the hydrogen business, the development of offshore wind projects and investments in the production of biofuels and more sustainable aviation fuel.
The two BP refineries in Lingen and Gelsenkirchen would continue to supply fuel, heating oil and chemical products while increasing production of lower-CO2 products, it said. Conventional fuels are “needed today, in 2030 and beyond,” the company emphasized.
BP Europe is part of the globally active BP Group. At the end of 2022, the company employed around 9,050 people in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Switzerland and Hungary, including around 3,850 in Germany.
Source: Stern
