EVs Are The Road To The Future, Big Oil Hears The Message
Zacks Investment Research | May 22, 2019 09:27PM ET
Electric Vehicles (EVs) are gaining traction with automakers discarding gasoline engines for electric motors. As more and more auto giants are stepping into the EV market space, Big Oil companies are indeed getting the message to re-align their models and have already started taking baby steps to that end for adapting to the changing times.
Booming Electric Cars Revolution
There has been a sweeping shift in thevehicle industry from internal combustion engines toelectric-powered versions.A host of factors, such as pollution issues, government sops, cost advantages, technical superiority and increasing adulation from both automakers and customers have turned the fortunes in favor of EVs. Stricter fuel-efficiency standards imposed by countries across the world have been making electrically charged cars all the more desirable.
European nations, namely France and the UK have already specified future plans of completely banning the sale of diesel and gasoline cars. China, the largest car market in the world, has also decided to totally switch to the EVs and is expected to emerge as the biggest market for electric cars globally.
With various auto giants rolling out electric cars, nearly 60%of new car sales and 33% of the global car fleet are estimated to be electric by 2040. The fact that the electric effect is in full force with EVs on track to dominate the market in the future has sent a clarion call to the energy industry as well.
Oil Supermajors Are Getting Plugged in
Global automakers are expected to invest more than $300 billion over the next decade to electrify their fleets. This has caught the attention of the oil industry boardrooms with the top-rung oil companies betting on the long-term EV prospects. Energy majorsare realizing the potential threat to their business in an era of EV and are taking effective responsive measures.
The latest example being Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) , which is dabbling in EV charging by collaborating with EVgo to offer EV charging ports at California gas stations. Notably, more than a dozen EVgo fast chargers—ranging from 50kw to 100kw in power, are already under construction at five Chevron stations. Chevron believes, the partnership with EVgo will provide customers with an array of refueling choices in the future and diversify its asset portfolio. Before partnering with EVgo, the U.S. supermajor had invested in EV infrastructural developer ChargePoint Inc in 2018.
As demand for cleaner vehicles is expected to soar, BP plc (LON:BP) (NYSE:BP) acquired UK’s largest car charging firm, Chargemaster, for $170 million in 2018 and intends to build a network of 400 high-power charging points (with 150 kw capacity) at its retail sites in the United Kingdom by 2021. The leading British energy player also invested $5 million in the U.S. mobile EV charging company—FreeWire Technologies—to offer rapid charging facilities across its retail stations in Britain and Europe.
In 2018, Italian oil giant Eni S.p.A (NYSE:E) signed an agreement with the EV-focused charging operator IONITY, which is a JV formed by world’s major carmakers, namely BMW Group, Daimler AG (DE:DAIGn), Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) and Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) Group with Audi and Porsche. The energy firm is targeting to equip around 400 stations across Europe with 2,400 chargers by 2020.
Last year, French fossil fuel giant TOTAL SA (NYSE:TOT) inked a deal with ChargePoint to increase the availability of EV charging solutions across the United Kingdom. TOTAL also acquired EV infrastructure firm G2mobility to accelerate growth of its EV charging business. With above 10,000 charging points, France-based G2mobility expands TOTAL’s footprint in EV charging businesses, ranging from designing smart charging stations to optimizing energy usage management and selling integrated services. As part of the G2mobility deal, TOTAL also teamed up with the cable company Nexans to aid in the development of infrastructure for electric cars in France. The supermajor,which carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy),also launched two innovative lines of fluids for electric and hybrid vehicles late last year, which will help the firm obtain a leading position in electric mobility.You can see Original post
Get The News You Want
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.