Shell converts London petrol station to charging hub

Shell has now officially opened a very special fast-charging park in the London borough of Fulham. The location is a former petrol station that has been converted to exclusively offering charging power for electric cars and vans.

Nine 175 kW charging points have been installed at the Shell Fulham filling station. The repurposed station is now home to a seating area for drivers to stay while charging, free Wi-Fi, a café and a shop.

Judging by the photos made available by Shell, the charging points have been supplied by the Australian manufacturer Tritium. Just last month, Shell and Tritium signed a new global framework agreement for the supply of DC chargers. At the time, it was said that Tritium’s DC charging columns for Shell would be used in Europe, South Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North America.

The site was converted more extensively than simply switching charging columns in place of petrol pumps. For the “sustainable design”, for example, Shell has replaced the roof with a modern wooden construction with solar panels integrated onto the roof. The shop’s display windows have double glazing with high insulating properties.

“EV drivers are looking for a charging experience that is as fast, convenient and comfortable as possible. This is exactly what Shell Fulham aims to offer,” said István Kapitány, Global Executive Vice President for Mobility at Shell. Speaking at the opening, Transport Minister Trudy Harrison said, “With more people than ever switching to electric vehicles, this is exactly the type of facility we need to make the switch as easy as possible for drivers across the country.”

In April, the oil company announced that it would install a total of 5,000 charging stations in the UK by 2025, primarily at existing service stations but also at new sites – currently, there are only 119 charging points at UK service stations. The acquisition of Ubitricity gave Shell around 2,700 AC charging points in the UK in one fell swoop. Including these on-street charging points, 50,000 Shell charging points are expected to be created in the UK by 2025.

shell.co.uk (announcement), shell.co.uk (project site), twitter.com