Shell joins Europe-wide project to install fast chargers for electric cars

Shell has joined a car manufacturer-led scheme to introduce more electric car charging points across Europe.

The major fuel provider is teaming up with Ionity, a collaboration between BMW, Daimler, Ford and the Volkswagen Group, as part of its drive to deliver cleaner energy to customers.

The high-powered chargers are 350kW units, which Shell says will take “five to eight minutes to charge next-generation electric vehicles”.

Five hundred co-branded charging points are planned across 10 countries, including the UK, Belgium and France, though a timeframe for the installations has not been given. An average of six points will be fitted at each Shell station.

István Kapitány, Shell’s global executive vice-president of retail, said: “Customers want to go on long journeys in their electric vehicles and feel confident that there are reliable, comfortable and convenient places to charge them quickly.

“Demand for electric vehicle charging on Europe’s major highways is set to grow rapidly. We are pre-empting drivers’ need to charge quickly by becoming one of Ionity’s major partners, giving customers access to the fastest charge points across 10 European countries.”

The fast chargers will use the Combined Charging Systems standard for the charging points, which means the vast majority of electric vehicles will be able to use them.

Ionity was formed earlier this month with the announcement that plans were in place to have 400 high-powered charging stations across Europe by 2020. The company is already working on 20 locations on major roads across Germany, Norway and Austria to make long-distance electric vehicle driving more feasible.