BP’s electric charging unit, BP Pulse, is looking to “aggressively” expand its US charging sites following the apparent abrupt disbanding of Tesla’s supercharging team, news agencies report.
In a statement to Reuters, a BP spokesperson said: "We are aggressively looking to acquire real estate to scale our network, which is a heightened focus following the recent Tesla announcement.”
BP plans to spend $1 billion by 2030, half of it within the next two to three years, to install over 3,000 charging points across the US.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Sujay Sharma, chief executive officer of BP Pulse Americas said that any “stranded real estate partners” should “free feel to pick up the phone” or look him up on the professional networking site LinkedIn.
While former employees in Tesla’s 500-odd supercharging team were blindsided by the news of their termination, Mr Sharma said that BP was “actively seeking good talent,” indicating the firm was keen to hire those affected by the unexpected layoffs.
BP is not the only company looking to move in on Tesla’s supercharger locations – charging network firm EVgo and ride-hailing and charging start-up Revel are also eyeing up potential opportunities, though it is not clear whether Tesla plans to abandon its upcoming projects altogether.
The automaker’s CEO Elon Musk said Tesla was “slowing down” its expansion of its supercharger network and would focus on upgrading existing sites.
