Shell's life beyond oil

Royal Dutch Shell has joined the likes of BMW, Daimler, Ford Motor and Volkswagen Group to expand its electric-vehicle charging business in Europe as it prepares for life beyond oil. On Monday Shell announced that they had agreed with Ionity, a German-based venture between the four automakers, to develop charging stations in ten European countries. The agreement comes as no surprise due to Shell’s acquisition of Europe’s largest EV charging provider NewMotion last month. Earlier this month, Ionity said it plans to build a network of 400 fast-charging stations for EVs by 2020. Shell and Ionity will initially have charging points at 80 of Shell's biggest highway fuel stations, with an average of six posts in each. It will take five to eight minutes on average to charge an EV at these points, Shell said. Shell expects the global electric vehicle fleet to grow from about 1 per cent of the entire auto fleet today to 10 percent by 2025, displacing oil demand equating to about 800,000 barrels per day. Rival BP said in August that it was talking to electric car manufacturers on deals to offer battery recharging docks at its stations.