Shell has set a target to install 50,000 on-street electric vehicle (EV) charge posts installed across the UK by the end of 2025, through ubitricity, a part of the Shell group.

Around 3,600 ubitricity chargers are already in place in the UK, using existing street infrastructure such as lamp posts and bollards. In order to drive take-up to reach the 50,000 figure, Shell will support local authorities with a financing offer to install more ubitricity on-street chargers in towns and cities across the UK.

Shell acquired ubitricity in February 2021. Ubitricity, founded in Berlin operates in a number of European countries, and has the largest public EV charging network in the UK with over 3,600 charge points (currently over 14 per cent market share).

The UK government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) currently meets 75 per cent of the cost of installing on-street chargers through the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme (ORCS). For local authorities looking to install ubitricity charge posts, Shell is prepared to cover the remaining costs, subject to commercial terms.

“It’s vital to speed up the pace of EV charger installation across the UK and this aim and financing offer is designed to help achieve that,” said David Bunch, Shell’s UK Country Chair. “Whether at home, at work or on-the-go, we want to give drivers across the UK accessible EV charging options, so that more drivers can switch to electric.”

The UK Committee for Climate Change recently recommended that the UK needed 150,000 public charge points operating across the UK by 20252. The announcement, which would make up a third of that total, sits alongside the rapid roll-out of Shell-owned charge points at forecourts, supermarkets, businesses and homes, to provide the UK’s EV drivers with the full range of charging options.

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