Shell has announced it will acquire the entirety of ubitricity, a Berlin-based startup that has built a network of on-street chargers for electric cars. Subject to regulatory clearance, the deal is expected to close later this year. Founded in 2008, the German clean energy company has worked with local authorities to integrate EV charging into existing street infrastructure such as lamp posts and bollards. “Particularly in larger cities where there is limited access to off-street parking, this is the solution many people have been waiting for to allow them to transition to EV ownership,” says Lex Hartman, the startup's CEO. The company had most recently raised a €20 million Series C round in March 2019. So far some public charging stations have been installed in Germany and France, while over 1,500 private ones for fleet customers are spread throughout Europe. Ubitricity claims the largest public EV charging network in the UK with over 2,700 charge points (currently over 13 percent market share).
Once the deal goes through, ubitricity will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the energy giant. This acquisition is part of Shell’s own ambition to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050.
Photo courtesy of ubitricity
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