Shell has today formally launched its new on-forecourt electric vehicle charging service, dubbed Shell Recharge.
Shell Recharge is currently available at three petrol stations across the UK – Shell Holloway, Shell Whyteleafe and Shell Derby – with a further seven locations in Greater London and Reading to be completed before the year’s end.
Stations have been selected by Shell due to their close proximity to motorways and main driving routes.
The 50kW rapid chargers installed at the stations are capable of charging current EVs within 30 minutes, and customers will be able to make use of free wifi at Shell Recharge stations while they wait.
Shell has also ensured stations selected for the Recharge service are equipped with Select shops and food and coffee outlets.
Jane Linday-Green, manager for future fuels at Shell UK, said the addition of rapid EV charging to forecourts allowed the company to broaden its range of fuel choices.
“Shell Recharge will soon be available at ten sites in the UK and will offer EV drivers in these areas a reliable, convenient and subscription-free charging service where they can charge their vehicle and take a break from their journey,” she said.
Shell has also made an introductory offer for its Recharge service. Customers will be charged 25p/kWh for the service until 31 June 2018, almost half the normal price of 49p/kWh, with customers able to pay using the Smoov app mobile payment system.
In comparison Ecotricity’s Electric Highway charges customers a £3 connection fee for up to 45 minutes, plus 17p/kWh. Tesla meanwhile charges 20p/kWh to access its range of Superchargers throughout Great Britain.
The announcement comes around a week after Shell announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase Dutch EV charging provider NewMotion, however NewMotion chargers will not be initially used by Shell Recharge.
Instead the company has brought European charging service provider Allego into the venture to manage the operation of the rapid vehicle chargers.
Anja van Niersen, chief executive at Allego, said: “We know that electric vehicle drivers want the right charging solution at the right place, to be always available and combined with excellent services. Shell Recharge shows how these wishes can be met.”
Shell’s announcement comes just over a month after Chargepoint Services formed a deal with Motor Fuel Group, which owns more than 400 petrol forecourts in the UK, to install a raft of rapid EV chargers to bolster the country’s EV charging infrastructure.
EV charging infrastructure – and the associated demand on the grid – has become an increasingly hot topic in the UK. In August National Grid released a thought paper on how it envisioned infrastructure would adapt to increased demand for EV charging, ultimately concluding that super-fast forecourts would be an ideal solution given how domestic households are unsuited to hosting the kinds of rapid chargers needed to host EVs of the future.
