Now There Are 3000 More Chances to Charge Your EV with Shell

• Shell has plans to increase its electric vehicle charging network, Shell Recharge, from 140,000 global charge points today to over 500,000 by 2025.

• Last week, the oil company finalized its purchase of the Volta charging network, which operates in 31 U.S. states. Shell now "owns and operates one of the largest public electric vehicle (EV) charging networks in the U.S."

• Shell paid $169 million cash for Volta. Shell made $40 billion in profits in 2022.

The EVs haven't taken over just yet, but oil companies are interested in being there whether you’re pumping fuel or electrons into your car.

This week, Shell USA finalized its acquisition of Volta. This electric-vehicle charging network company specializes in pairing charging plug locations with advertising screens, often at high-traffic areas like retailers and stadiums. These ads cover most of the cost of charging at Volta stations, but Volta did have plans to offer more paid DC fast-charge outlets. Volta said late last year that it had more than 5700 of these "out-of-home screens" in its network of over 3000 charging stalls in the U.S. Volta operates in 31 U.S. states and territories and regularly supplies around 112,000 charging sessions to EV drivers each month.

Volta and Shell announced the $169 million acquisition in January. That comes out to just 86 cents a share. This purchase price was well under the stock’s $15 high from early 2021 and was also below the $2.50 share price Volta was hovering at in mid-2022 before it dropped in September and October.