Would you charge your EV at a charging station owned by an oil giant? Well, lots of people do, every day. Of the six or seven behemoths collectively known as Big Oil, three—Shell, Total and BP—operate EV charging networks.

Shell Recharge claims to operate some 85,000 public charging points in several countries, including the US. TotalEnergies boasts a network of over 60,000 charging points in Europe. bp pulse operates thousands of public chargers in the US and Europe and—dig this—has a section on its web site that encourages people to buy EVs.

A few years ago, the companies were on a CPO buying spree. For example, Shell acquired Dutch charging station operator NewMotion In 2017, and the US firm Greenlots in 2019. (Read our 2026 feature, How the biggest US EV charging networks got their starts for more details.)

What could their motivation be? Did the oil giants mean to strangle the developing EV charging industry by buying up charging companies and shutting them down, or perhaps by ensuring that charging an EV costs more than fueling a legacy vehicle?

Well, if that’s what they meant to do, they haven’t accomplished it. By all accounts, the oil-owned charging stations work just fine, and pricing is comparable to that of other offerings. Furthermore, new charging stations are being installed at such a clip, and by so many different players, that it’s hard to imagine the oilers or anyone else cornering the market.

The opposite possibility—that Big Oil knows its days are numbered, and plans to phase out oil in favor of electrons—seems equally unbelievable.

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