BP
Building the UK’s largest EV charging network

That BP had the largest number of petrol station sites in the UK in 2019 is not surprising. It also had the largest electric vehicle (EV) charging network in the country, with more than 7,500 charging points for electric vehicles across the UK, and this business is expanding rapidly.

BP Chargemaster, founded in 2008 and acquired by BP in 2018, has supplied over 50,000 public, workplace and home charging units in the UK. It is now rolling out 150kW ultra-rapid chargers on BP forecourts, with the aim of developing the largest nationwide ultra-fast public charging network. This is helping to accelerate the adoption of EVs, by making charging fast and convenient.

BP Chargemaster started its expansion by installing public charging points. These now regularly supply more than 60,000 kWh of energy per day, equating to around 1.5 million miles per week of driving by electric cars.  BP Chargemaster also now sells home and workplace charging solutions. For home users, the system allows them to schedule charging to take advantage of dynamic energy tariffs. The workplace solution provides visibility of charging across EV fleets.

In 2019, BP Chargemaster supplied around 13 million kWh of certified renewable electricity to customers, powering more than 53 million miles of travel and avoiding more than 15,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The electricity is certified as renewable through the redemption or purchase of Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin by independent energy supplier Ovo and Orsted.

According to BP’s 2019 Energy Outlook report there could be more than 350 million EVs on the roads around the world by 2040, and BP Chargemaster expects there to be more than 1 million in the UK by 2022. The development of convenient and innovative EV charging technologies and networks to support this growth is part of BP’s strategy to advance the energy transition.