BERLIN, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Shell is planning to install 50 electric vehicle charging stations with 100 charging points at its gas stations across Germany this year, the oil company announced on Monday.
The capacity of the new stations will be high enough to fill up an electric car for a 100-kilometer drive in just a few minutes, Shell announced in Hamburg.
Shell's plans will make it the first oil company to offer charging stations on a larger scale in Germany, although only a small part of Shell's approximately 2,000 gas stations in the country will be upgraded.
"The number of electric cars with fast charging capability is steadily increasing" and "the technology has now developed to such an extent that the duration of a rapid charging process is roughly equivalent to that of a conventional refueling process," a Shell spokesperson told Xinhua on Monday.
Shell "believes that the time has come for expansion and that our offer will meet with increasing demand," the spokesperson added.
Shell is working with Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg (EnBW) to install the Germany-wide network of charging stations.
EnBW will "guarantee 100 percent green electricity" to German customers, according to Shell.
"Together with Shell, we are making electric mobility simple and reliable even over long distances," said Marc Burgstahler, who is responsible for electric mobility at the German power company.
Shell already operates electric vehicle charging stations at selected gas stations in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and China.
According to the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), there were around 17,400 charging points for electric cars in Germany at the end of March.
More than three-quarters of these were operated by energy companies and were mainly located in large cities.
Electric cars currently only account for a very small share of the German car market.
According to figures released by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), of the total of 57.3 million newly registered vehicles in 2018, around 83,000 were electric cars and 341,000 hybrid cars.
