[blackwasp]

In 2017, Shell purchased NewMotion, an electric vehicle (EV) charging company. The petroleum giant has now acquired Greenlots, a US-based EV charging, energy management software and solutions company.

Shell is looking to offer a large-scale charging infrastructure while efficiently integrating it with energy sources like solar, wind and power storage. With this acquisition, the company expects a faster transition to new-age mobility solutions like EVs while offering a system that is cleaner, safer and accessible by many.

As part of the deal, Greenlots will retain its separate identity and leadership while scaling up its mobility services to utilities, cities, carmakers, fleets and drivers. Greenlots is headquartered in Los Angeles and has deployed projects in 13 countries.

Last year, Shell’s rival BP purchased Chargemaster, UK’s largest EV charging company. In 2017, Great Britain, France, Germany and China announced plans to phase out conventionally powered cars and move towards some form of electrification.



Link to the Team-BHP News

[Thermodynamics]

They are smart. In fact industrial growth in Europe is pretty stagnant, population growth is flat and so is the market. Producing in Europe is also becoming expensive and all major industries have turned rudder towards Asia Pacific and more recently Africa. One of the few growing markets left in Europe is EVs and so the equation is straight forward, once they have established charging infrastructure, it is like a toll plaza, keep minting money.

This day they do the same with Oil. Neither Dutch nor the British have oil, though they mint money by distribution. Electricity distribution will become massive in future, easy money for first movers.

[SmartCat]

I don't know. It looks like Shell, BP etc are trying to pull wool over the eyes of shareholders. To show them that they are doing something about the upcoming restrictions on sale of petrol/diesel cars. Just think about it - how do Exxon Mobil, Total, Shell, BP etc make billions of dollars of profits every year? By going to places where nobody goes (Eg: middle of the ocean) and digging out the black gold. It is not easy to replicate what these guys do, and that's why they get multi-billion dollar valuation.

But setting up EV infrastructure all over and charging $0.50 per customer will get them peanuts in revenues and nothing in profits. Anybody can enter this charging business, because it simply has no entry barriers.

So will these oil exploration companies just roll over and die in another 20 years? Unlikely, because Oil demand is still expected to grow at 2% per annum for a long time. Slightly less than World GDP growth.

1) Petrol & diesel for private cars accounts for just about 35% of crude oil demand.
2) Cars that are already on the road still need petrol and diesel. New car sales to existing cars on the road ratio will be low.
3) Poorer countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia will take decades to adopt "EV only" rule. This is where crude oil consumption growth is above world's average anyway.
4) When usage of a commodity like crude oil falls, its price will fall. And when price falls beyond certain levels, human kind figures out new ways of using the commodity. For eg: if crude oil price crashes, it is likely to replace coal as a fuel for power plants. Demand will soar again.

[Malyaj]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

I don't know. It looks like Shell, BP etc are trying to pull wool over the eyes of shareholders. To show them that they are doing something about the upcoming restrictions on sale of petrol/diesel cars. Just think about it - how do Exxon Mobil, Total, Shell, BP etc make billions of dollars of profits every year? By going to places where nobody goes (Eg: middle of the ocean) and digging out the black gold. It is not easy to replicate what these guys do, and that's why they get multi-billion dollar valuation.

But setting up EV infrastructure all over and charging $0.50 per customer will get them peanuts in revenues and nothing in profits. Anybody can enter this charging business, because it simply has no entry barriers.

As far as EVs are concerned, the only way they will come remotely close to the kind of big bucks which they make from their existing cash cows is if they play the entire value chain - from power generation, to distribution to EV charging infra. And they should also be supplying the raw material, in this case the fuel for fuel powered plants or set up green energy infra themselves. They have been on some kind of acquisition path lately with regards to green energy. So maybe its not all wool