BP announced on Thursday that it would buy 100 million Tesla DC fast chargers. This is the first time that Tesla chargers have been bought by a third-party EV charging network.
BP announced in a news release that gas stations, Travel Centres of America, and charging hubs near airports and key cities will install Tesla chargers by 2024. Some commercial fleet customers will use them.
These chargers will be able to put out up to 250 kW of power and will work with both Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) and Combined Charging Standard (CCS) plugs. They will have the BP Pulse brand on them, which is what the oil company calls its charging sites for electric vehicles.
BP-run chargers will be third-party chargers and not part of the official Tesla Supercharger network. However, they will still show up on the Tesla app and in-car displays as long as they meet “reliability and functionality requirements,” BP said.
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Tesla Supercharger and Tesla charging gear: Will they work reliably with other EVs?
As more car companies use the NACS link, it will be interesting to see if the Tesla Supercharger will work reliably with other EVs. The BP transaction raises the same question about Tesla charging devices.
BP has been slowly expanding its network of charging stations for electric vehicles. The company said in February that it would spend $1 billion on EV charging stations in the United States by 2030, with $500 million coming in the next two to three years.
The above-mentioned charging hubs are part of the company’s plans. The first one will serve ride-hailing cars at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). BP said in 2022 that the hub would have 48 charging ports and that by 2027, about 6,400 ride-hailing cars would use the site every day.
A lot of BP charging stations are, however, also petrol stores. The business has learned that EV chargers can sometimes make almost as much money as petrol pumps.
The future charging station that designers have imagined looks more like a trip oasis than a petrol station, but it will need to come in a lot of different shapes and sizes.
