Germany: Shell to set-up 50 HPC stations this year

Shell is starting to build high power chargers at its gas stations in Germany. This year, the oil company plans to build 50 charging stations across the country, with a total of 100 charging points and a capacity of at least 150 kilowatts. Further charging stations are to follow.

Shell has brought EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg, an utility in Germany’s south, on board as a partner for the charging network initiative. They plan to install high power charging stations with CCS, CHAdeMO and an AC connection (type 2), which will each provide up to 150 kW for up to two vehicles charging simultaneously and up to 300 kW when only one car is charging. According to the media reports, locations in Cologne, Oberhausen and Munich are planned.

“The importance of electric mobility will undoubtedly increase in the passenger car sector,” says Jan Toschka, head of Shell’s filling station business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The cooperation with EnBW will give Shell direct access to the know-how and years of experience of the energy company and charging infrastructure operator. “We have a holistic view of the subject of electromobility and bring comprehensive expertise in the area-wide expansion and operation of charging infrastructure to the project,” confirms Marc Burgstahler, who is responsible for electromobility at EnBW.

Shell has already installed rapid charging stations in other countries, for example “at selected filling stations in Great Britain, the Netherlands and China”. A whole series of acquisitions in the energy sector indicate that the Dutch oil multinational generally wants to establish an entire ecosystem in the e-mobility sector. In February, Shell took over the German battery manufacturer Sonnen, in October 2018 the charging infrastructure specialist NewMotion and at the beginning of the year the US company Greenlots, which also focuses on this field. Besides, the petroleum company has joined the HPC network Ionity and the CCS initiative CharIN and is a new investor in the US startup Ample, which specialises in battery swaps.

Shell founded the “New Energies” business unit in 2016 to advance two core areas: new fuels for transport (such as biofuels and hydrogen) and power generation from purchase and sale to direct supply to customers. By 2020, Shell plans to invest an average of 1 to 2 billion dollars a year in such projects to push these priorities forward.

handelsblatt.com, shell.de (Both in German)