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Car-rental company Hertz and oil giant BP announced Tuesday that they have signed a deal for the development and management of electric-vehicle charging stations throughout North America.
BP’s EV charging business, BP Pulse, will build the charging stations and provide software and services to manage the stations and keep Hertz’s fleet charged. BP Pulse has a global target of more than 100,000 chargers by 2030.
Hertz said taxis and ride-hailing companies will have access to some of the charging stations.
Hertz has aimed for one quarter of its fleet to be EVs by 2024 and intends to purchase 340,000 EVs from Tesla, Polestar and GM by 2027.
“Hertz is accelerating the adoption of electrification by investing in the largest rental fleet of electric vehicles in North America and expanding the availability of charging stations,” Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr said in a press release.
Demand for EVs has surged in recent years. A lack of convenient charging stations has been limiting factor for consumers who have considered buying EVs. In June, the Biden administration announced new steps to build a national network of 500,000 charging stations.
BP chief executive Bernard Looney said in the press release that the deal with Hertz is “just the start” for the company in the U.S. The deal builds on an existing program between the two companies in which chargers were installed at 25 Hertz airport locations.
Vic Shao, BP Pulse’s brand chief, said its software system will help Hertz keep its fleet charged efficiently by identifying the cheapest time of day to charge in a fluctuating power market.
“When you’re operating a large-scale fleet, unless you have a fix on the cost of your ‘fuel,’ electricity in this case, it’s very difficult to scale up. You need to get a handle on the operational expense,” Shao told CNBC on Tuesday.
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