British oil and gas giant BP plans to expand its charging network in the United States amid Tesla’s major job cuts that caused the dismissal of the entire Supercharger team, Reuters reports.
BP Pulse mulls buying Tesla Supercharger sites
BP, through its electric vehicle charging uni BP Pulse, seems to be planning to acquire Tesla Supercharger sites in the US and absorb the laid-off Supercharger team members.
“We are aggressively looking to acquire real estate to scale our network, which is a heightened focus following the recent Tesla announcement.”
BP Pulse Americas CEO Sujay Sharma
The company is investing $1 billion by 2030 to fund the planned network expansion in the US. Half the amount will support the development of 3,000+ charging points within 2-3 years.
The primary objective is to deploy large-scale charging hubs with at least 12 chargers, which it calls Gigahubs.
BP Pulse plans to focus its expansion efforts on the northeast, the Sun Belt, the West Coast, and the Great Lakes region of the US.
“If there are stranded real estate partners who are looking for someone to call, they should feel free to pick up the phone and call me or look me up on LinkedIn.”
BP Pulse Americas CEO Sujay Sharma (via Bloomberg)
CEO Sharma also hinted at the company’s intentions to scoop up the approximately 500 laid-off Supercharger team members.
“We are actively seeking good talent and real estate opportunities that allow us to help grow, despite whatever else is going on around us.”
BP Pulse Americas CEO Sujay Sharma (via Bloomberg)
Tesla’s ongoing reorganization and its implication
Despite the sudden dismissal of the Supercharger team, Tesla announced that its network expansion plans remain. However, it will progress at a slower pace for new sites than originally planned.
The recent pullback can potentially compromise the wider electric vehicle uptake in North America, considering the need for 400,000 ultra-fast chargers to support the expected 40 million EVs by 2030.
Tesla currently contributes 74% to all the ultra-fast chargers in the region, according to Bloomberg. Therefore, its ongoing reorganization poses a huge opportunity for other public electric vehicle fast-charging networks to increase their market share in the US.
Hiring the former Tesla Supercharger employees could also play a significant role in improving other companies’ networks. As we all know, the team aided the Tesla Supercharger network’s remarkable growth over the past years.
Deal with Tesla
Chief Executive Sharma shared the deal BP signed with Tesla in 2023, which involves the acquisition of roughly $100 million worth of supercharger hardware.
Notably, this enormous order is under the $1 billion investment announced in February 2023.
The company reportedly plans to kick off the installation of Tesla’s supercharger hardware later this year and in early 2024. Meanwhile, BP Pulse’s own 250-kilowatt chargers will feature both Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) and the Combined Charging System (CCS) plugs.
