Dive Brief:
- EG Group will buy ultra-fast electric vehicle chargers from Tesla, the company announced in a Monday press release.
- The chargers will be installed across Europe and the U.K. and will be branded with EG’s EVPoint banner. The press release did not specify how many chargers the company is buying.
- While Tesla has traditionally installed its chargers as part of its own network, it has made deals to allow two companies in the c-store space — BP and EG Group – to use its hardware in their own networks in the past month.
Dive Insight:
EG Group’s purchase is the second such deal overall from Tesla and the first in Europe. The agreement with BP involves $100 million worth of chargers expected to be installed at TravelCenters of America, Ampm and Thorntons locations, among others.
EG’s hardware will be on an open network, allowing drivers of any brand of EV can use the chargers, and will offer the plug-and-charge protocol, which automates payment for users.
The first of these units is expected to roll out by the end of 2023.
“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,” Imraan Patel, chief strategy and business officer of EG Group, said in the press release.
This summer, EG Group said it had identified almost 4,000 locations across its entire footprint that met its criteria for hosting EV charging. These include sites with plenty of foot traffic and parking, along with amenities like grocery or foodservice offerings.
Blackburn, U.K.-based EG Group operates nearly 1,800 convenience stores and gas stations in the U.S.
