BP to expand EV charging to US malls
BP has agreed to install its electric vehicle (EV) charging gigahubs at 75 Simon Property Group sites across the US.
The deal will create more than 900 charging bays that can "support nearly every make and model of EVs on the market today" at Simon properties, which are primarily shopping malls.
The first gigahubs, which will be installed by the company's BP Pulse subsidiary, are expected to open in early 2026.
BP Pulse's EV charging network includes 39,000 bays across the US, UK, Germany and China, and the company aims to surpass 100,000 globally by 2030. BP plans to invest $1bn into domestic EV charging infrastructure by the end of the decade, as well.
The agreement with Simon follows BP's 2023 deal with car rental agency Hertz to add gigahubs and charging bays in "high-demand locations" of major cities in the US.
Related news posts
Australia’s Snowy, Lochard ink Iona gas storage deal
Australia’s Snowy, Lochard ink Iona gas storage deal
Sydney, 15 July (Argus) — Australian state-owned utility Snowy Hydro has signed a 25-year deal to store gas at the country's largest domestic gas storage in Victoria state to support its gas-fired power stations. The agreement with the 26PJ (694mn m³) Iona site, owned by domestic gas storage firm Lochard Energy, will commence in January 2028. This will be ahead of the permanent closure of the 1,480MW Yallourn brown coal plant, operated by Hong Kong-owned utility EnergyAustralia, in mid-2028. "The gas storage agreement with Lochard Energy will support the operation of our gas-fired power stations in Victoria," Snowy Hydro chief executive Dennis Barnes said on 15 July. Snowy Hydro, which owns and operates three gas-fired power stations totalling 1,290MW at present, is building the 750MW Kurri Kurri gas-fired plant , of which the initial 660MW stage is scheduled to come on line in late 2024. Snowy's 320MW Laverton North and 300MW Valley Power generators are located in Victoria. The deal is expected to underwrite the Heytesbury underground gas storage project , Lochard's chief executive Tim Jessen said, which will expand the capacity of Iona by approximately 3PJ. Australia's southeastern states are expected to face significant shortfalls of gas later this decade as fields supplying Victoria's 1,150 TJ/d (30.7mn m³/d) Longford gas plant deplete. A mixture of pipeline expansions to bring more gas south from Queensland state, LNG import terminals, and reducing demand have been floated to bridge this gap. Two LNG import terminals are proposed for Victoria but both require environmental approvals from the state government. Snowy Hydro is facing significant pressure from the federal government over its delayed Snowy 2.0 pumped hydroelectric project, which has suffered significant cost overruns and delays. Snowy last year said the scheme's costs had doubled to A$12bn ($8.1bn) from a previous A$5.9bn estimate , which was itself higher than the original guidance. By Tom Major Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Vietnam’s Vinfast cuts EV sales goal, delays US plant
Vietnam’s Vinfast cuts EV sales goal, delays US plant
Singapore, 15 July (Argus) — Vietnam-based electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Vinfast Auto has lowered its 2024 EV delivery goal and delayed its North Carolina EV plant's first production by three years, because of economic headwinds. "We have adopted a more prudent outlook that is carefully calibrated to near-term headwinds, taking into full consideration the realities of market volatility and potential challenges," said the chairwoman of Vinfast's board of directors Le Thi Thu Thuy on 12 June. Vinfast now expects to deliver 80,000 EVs in 2024, down from the 100,000 units it set earlier this year and having missed its delivery goal of 40,000-50,000 last year. Vinfast delivered 21,747 EVs in January-June, almost doubling on the year, according to the company. Its EV sales over April-June stood at 12,058 units, up by 24pc on the quarter and 26pc on the year. It started building a $2bn EV factory in US North Carolina's Chatham county last year, with output scheduled to begin in 2025 . But the firm has now made the "strategic decision" to push it back to 2028, Vinfast said. VinFast earlier this year said that it would invest $2bn in south India's Tamil Nadu state to develop its EV sector, including building an EV plant that can produce 150,000 units/yr. The plant will be "opened" in the first half of 2025, said Vingroup's chairman Pham Nhat Vuong last month, adding that India will be Vinfast's biggest Asia market. The global battery and EV sectors have been facing various economic and geopolitical headwinds. This includes persistently elevated interest rates that are curbing consumer spending, and rising geopolitical market barriers starting with the US and EU's tariffs on Chinese EVs, as well as Canada looking into potential punitive duties on Chinese EVs. By Joseph Ho Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Japan’s Erex cuts biomass-fired power output in June
Japan’s Erex cuts biomass-fired power output in June
Tokyo, 15 July (Argus) — Japanese renewable electricity producer Erex reduced its biomass-fired power generation output in June compared with a year earlier, according to the company data. Erex's combined biomass-fired output across the 50MW Saiki, the 75MW Buzen, and the 49MW Nakagusuku power plant in June fell by 8.5pc from a year earlier to 108GWh. The company does not publish output data for its 75MW Ofunato plant, while the 20MW Tosa plant has been under periodic maintenances since March. Erex operates a total of 269MW of biomass capacity in Japan, including Ofunato, burning mainly imported wood pellets and palm kernel shells. The company aims to start coal and biomass co-firing generation at the 149MW Itoigawa plant that has only consumed coal so far. The company plans to start operations at two more biomass plants, the 75MW Sakaide Hayashida in 2025 and the 300MW Niigata Mega Bio around 2029-2030. Erex is also accelerating biomass projects in southeast Asia, aiming to build up to 19 generation plants in Vietnam and five in Cambodia that will burn mainly wood residue and chips, in addition to several wood pellet plants in both countries. By Takeshi Maeda Erex's biomass generation in June 2024 Capacity(MW) Generations(GWh) Start of Operations Tosa 20.0 0.0 Jun-13 Saiki 50.0 31.0 Nov-16 Buzen 75.0 46.0 Jan-20 Nakagusuku 49.0 31.0 Jul-21 Ofunato 75.0 - Jan-20 Total 269.0 108.0 Source: Erex Erex biomass generation (MWh) Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Germany's Aurubis copper smelter back from maintenance
Germany's Aurubis copper smelter back from maintenance
London, 12 July (Argus) — Germany's Aurubis today announced that its Hamburg copper smelter returned to service on 11 July from the largest maintenance shutdown in the company's history that began 7 May. A restart is now under way following the €95mn 60-day maintenance that included an overhaul of the flash smelter, installation of heat exchangers in the contact acid plant, as well as the installation of a tap hold drill and tamping machine for improved safety of copper slag tapping. Hydrogen-ready anode furnaces were also installed as measures to improve sustainability. Investments in automation are set to improve efficiency and extend the frequency of planned maintenance rounds to three years from two. The Hamburg smelter's outage has exacerbated sulphuric acid tightness in Europe , and the operational restart is expected to provide some relief to the market. This comes in addition to the lack of availability of molten sulphur in the region, leading to shortages of sulphur burnt acid , which has prompted some consumers to replace burnt acid with smelter acid, lifting demand. Aurubis produced 1.19mn t of sulphuric acid during the first six months of the 2023-24 financial year (October-March), up by 1pc on the same period a year earlier. Output at Aurubis' Hamburg smelter rose by 11pc to 512,000t in the period, while output from the Pirdop smelter saw a 6pc decline on the period to 679,000t . For the first three months of the year, Aurubis produced 598,000t of acid, unchanged from the same quarter of 2022-23, as increased output at its Hamburg smelter offset a decline from Bulgaria's Pirdop plant. Production at Hamburg totalled 258,000t from January-March. By Maria Mosquera Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
![Generic Hero Banner](/_next/image?url=%2F-%2Fmedia%2Fproject%2Fargusmedia%2Fmainsite%2Fimages%2F14-generic-hero-banners%2Fherobanner_1600x530_generic-c.jpg%3Fh%3D530%26iar%3D0%26w%3D1600%26rev%3D8ec86dce0f724687bd325a9a917cffae%26hash%3D9FD39B08C9D84A160C91A3649C40A186&w=3840&q=75)
Business intelligence reports
Get concise, trustworthy and unbiased analysis of the latest trends and developments in oil and energy markets. These reports are specially created for decision makers who don’t have time to track markets day-by-day, minute-by-minute.
Learn more