Chevron starts deploying EV charging stations at its gas stations

Oil and gas station companies are increasingly looking at adding electric vehicle charging stations at their locations in order to stay relevant as the industry moves to electric.

Chevron is the latest example as it partners with EVgo to bring EV charging stations to its gas stations.

Today, EVgo and Chevron announced that “more than a dozen EVgo fast chargers – ranging from 50 kW to 100 kW capacity – are already operational or under construction at five Chevron stations.”

They are all in California, around Los Angeles and the Bay Area: Aliso Viejo, Manhattan Beach, Menlo Park, and Venic.

The one in Menlo Park is already operational.

Cathy Zoi, EVgo CEO, commented on the announcement:

“We believe the future of transportation is electric, and EVgo is helping everyone—including traditional fueling stations—take advantage of the benefits of EV adoption. EVgo is excited to work with Chevron to bring fast-charging to gas stations today and applauds the company’s forward-thinking efforts to serve the rapidly growing market of electric vehicle drivers in California.”

Alice Flesher, general manager of Chevron’s company-owned and operated network of gas stations, added:

“We are excited to be working with EVgo to install electric vehicle charging stations at select locations in California. While gasoline and diesel remain an important part of California’s transportation energy mix, we are always exploring how to evolve our offering, helping improve the consumer experience and working to remain the preferred brand choice on the West Coast.”

Chevron is not the only oil company seeing the writing on the wall.

Oil companies have been increasingly interested in electric vehicle charging as they start to see electric vehicles slowly taking over the car industry.

Shell is leading the charge through its involvement in the new Ionity charging network in Europe, building its own chargers at its own gas stations, and recently acquiring a charging network with over 30,000 chargers.

Petro Canada, formerly a state-owned oil company in Canada but now part of Suncor, is also on board as it started deploying charging stations to its large network of gas stations in Canada.

BP also started investing in electric vehicle charging through an investment in a startup.

Electrek’s Take

It shouldn’t be surprising. Oil companies always knew what they were doing. They just didn’t care or cared more about profits than the longevity of the planet.

They knew about climate change and their impact on its acceleration way before the public did.

After trying to suppress it as well as they could, they now see the tide turning and they are investing their oil profit into that future.

On a certain level, it’s annoying, but we also need that money to accelerate EV adoption so we can’t really complain.