A cornerstone of the investment is the company’s partnership with Hertz.
BP is betting big on the future of mobility. The energy company plans to invest $1 billion by 2023 on electric vehicle (EV) charge points across the United States.
A cornerstone of the investment includes the partnership between Hertz and BP to bring fast charging infrastructure to Hertz locations in major cities, including Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
According to BP, several of the fast-charging installations will include gigahub locations. These are large-scale fast charging hubs, such as one location previously announced by BP and Hertz at Los Angeles International Airport. The hubs will serve rideshare and taxi drivers, car rental customers and the general public at high-demand locations, such as airports. The buildout will be informed by telematics from Hertz’s fleet of connected cars.
“This is about more, faster. We’re bringing more, fast-charging options to more Americans for faster EV adoption,” said Dave Lawler, chairman and president of BP America. “Working alongside Hertz, we’re excited to drive the future of mobility.”
EV charging is one of BP’s five strategic transition growth engines in which the company expects to significantly grow investment through this decade. The other transition growth engines include bioenergy, hydrogen, convenience and renewables and power.
Although the proportion may be different in the U.S., by 2030 BP aims for half its annual global investment to go into these businesses, the company added.
Currently, BP has 22,000 EV charge points worldwide and set a goal for more than 100,000 globally by 2030 — around 90 percent rapid or ultra-fast.
The news comes almost six months after BP and Hertz entered into a memorandum of understanding to develop a network of EV charging stations across Hertz’s national footprint of locations, powered by BP Pulse, BP’s global electrification and charging solution brand.
“As Hertz builds the largest EV rental fleet in North America, it is essential that our millions of customers — including leisure and business travelers, rideshare drivers and corporate clients — have access to a national network of reliable, fast chargers,” said Stephen Scherr, Hertz chair and CEO. “We are excited to be working with BP to build out charging at Hertz locations across the country, and to leverage telematic insights from the Hertz fleet to ensure that charging is located at the places where our customers need it most.”
Hertz is assembling a diverse fleet of EVs at a range of price points through large-scale purchases from Tesla, Polestar and General Motors. Its objective is for one-quarter of its fleet to be electric by the end of 2024.
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