Last month, Tesla for the first time announced that it would sell its supercharger hardware for the first time to another company, to oil and gas giant BP in the US, with the deal estimated to be worth around $US100 million.
Now, Tesla has done a similar deal with a UK-based convenience store and fuel retailer, EG Group to acquire Teslaās hardware and expand its 600 charger network to over 20,000 chargers.
These chargers will be spread across 3,600 EG Group sites across the UK and Europe under the evpoint network.
š Big news! EG Group is enhancing the @evpoint_uk network with the acquisition of Tesla's ultra-fast chargers, expanding UK and Europe coverage. More charging options, less waiting, more driving. ā”More details here: https://t.co/vXBd0ikWgh #evpoint #tesla pic.twitter.com/negAsaCY8j
— EG Group UK (@TheEGGroup) November 13, 2023
This is a six-fold increase in the number of chargers that will be available to EV drivers within this network that currently appears to be running hardware from Australian-based Tritium – now struggling with financial and share price issues – across many of its evpoint sites.
āOur aim is to deliver a three-pronged strategy to help us reach our energy transition goals,” said EG Groupās chief strategy and business officer, Imraan Patel.
“We have made significant progress to date on EV charging, with more than 600 chargers across 189 sites already deployed and a pipeline prepared with an ambition for evpoint to roll out more than 20,000 chargers across c.3,600 of our own sites over time with opportunities across third party locations also being pursued.ā
This was reaffirmed by the companyās founder and co-CEO, Zuber Issa, who then also spoke about Teslaās supercharging hardwareās reputation.
āSecuring this best-in-class equipment from Tesla marks another milestone for evpoint and is hugely exciting for us. It is the first deal of its kind entered into by Tesla with a third-party charge point operator in Europe and will transform how our customers charge their vehicles and how they interact with EG.
“Since installing our first EV charger back in 2012, we have continued to invest in the technology. This deal will accelerate the delivery of vital charging infrastructure for motorists to help power the transition to Net Zero.ā
This network will be available to all EVs and will support the āPlug and Chargeā protocol that will simplify and automate payments for EV drivers without the hassles of apps.
āThe rapid installation of reliable, easy-to-use EV charging infrastructure is the right step towards a sustainable future and a key area of focus for us at Tesla,” saidĀ Tesla’s senior director of charging infrastructure, Rebecca Tinucci.
“For this reason, weāre excited to make our fast-charging hardware available for purchase to EG Group, and other leaders in the space.ā
EG Group also operates over 500 fuel and convenience stores in Australia which it acquired through Woolworths back in 2019.
The first Tesla-supplied superchargers with evpoint branding will be rolling out next month which highlights the pace of Teslaās hardware business.
RizĀ is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.