Total acquires EV charging station developer

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French oil giant Total says it has finalized the acquisition of EV charging solution company G2mobility.

The business develops interconnected charging stations operated by a web platform. G2mobility says its solutions can remotely operate charging points to offer smart energy management systems. The company has been particularly active in the French municipal government and private business segment.

Total says it is pursuing expansion in the e-mobility market, having acquired PitPoint and a significant chunk of the shares of Clean Energy, in the U.S.

The oil company and G2mobility shareholder Nexans have also signed a partnership agreement to give the former access to Nexans’ production capacity. The latter business offers software solutions and cabling and connectivity products, to enable the collection and refinement of large datasets from utilities and e-mobility users, as well as interconnectors and telecom networks in a range of industrial sectors.

Lack of charging points holding back the EV tide

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“With a market share of more than 25% of charging points for local governments, and growth in revenues of [more than] 50% last year, G2mobility brings us a new competency to provide more efficient electric charging systems for our B2B and B2C customers,” said Momar Nguer, President of Marketing and Services, and member of Total's executive committee.

Though recent EV adoption figures in Europe look promising, the transport sector is lagging behind COreduction targets. The relatively slow adoption of EVs is down to a lack of comprehensive charging infrastructure in key European markets. Germany, for example, will fall well short of its target of registering 1 million EVs by 2020.

At the same time, the shift towards e-mobility worldwide is gathering steam, and Total’s move to acquire G2mobility is just one example of oil corporations making large investments in the sector.

Earlier this year, BP invested $20 million in StoreDot, an Israeli developer of ultrafast-charging batteries. Royal Dutch Shell acquired NewMotion, which operates one of Europe's largest EV charging networks, and in 2016 Total bought Saft, an EV battery supplier.

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