Shell snaps up EV charging operator Volta for $169 million

[RickMachE]

https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/18/shell-snaps-up-ev-charging-operator-volta-for-169-million/amp/

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[roamtheworld]

Volta Charge has the highest concentration of its chargers in California, Texas, and Illinois, with metro areas being the main focus of the company. In total, Volta operates 990 locations in North America, covering 399 cities. The company is also one of many that have attempted to make charging as cheap as possible by selling “billboard space” on each of its chargers. Nonetheless, Volta’s network is dwarfed by the Shell Recharge network, which, through the backing of the oil giant, has quickly expanded to 54,000 “charge points” in North America across countless locations.
It keeps going in the right direction for adding EV charging.

 

[KevinS]

I think they have a golden horseshoe up their backside, because their business model didn't work. They were very fortunate to get acquired.

 

[tesla2mme]

RIP free charging at sports basement

 

[timbop]

Volta Charge has the highest concentration of its chargers in California, Texas, and Illinois, with metro areas being the main focus of the company. In total, Volta operates 990 locations in North America, covering 399 cities. The company is also one of many that have attempted to make charging as cheap as possible by selling “billboard space” on each of its chargers. Nonetheless, Volta’s network is dwarfed by the Shell Recharge network, which, through the backing of the oil giant, has quickly expanded to 54,000 “charge points” in North America across countless locations.
It keeps going in the right direction for adding EV charging.

Filtering for CCS, there aren't that many:

 

[machev]

I can't speak to the total number of Shell Recharge for the US, I have personally charged at several Shell Recharge branded dispensers in the Northeast

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I’m unimpressed with Shell Recharge out here. Might as well have no DCFC. If the experience here is any indication, things aren’t going to get better fir the Volta stations.

 

[Blue highway]

looks like Shell Recharge in OR are 50kW or less.

 

[Electric Goat]

This is potentially not good. Shell just lets all of their DCFC stations here in Minnesota stay broken.

 

[tannerk89]

Stopped at one shell recharge station, 125kw or something, it took probably 40mins to get started and had the strangest connection to the car… I had to do some background trickery with the app to make it work, and I only figured that out because of a taxi/Uber driver that knew the station helped me, customer service was no help. They need a lot of work to fix their issues..

 

[kdonnel]

I have only used one Shell Recharge station located outside Greenville SC. There were two dispensers. The first one I tried would not activate. The second one did. I reported the issue through the app and got a response the next day that they would look into the issue.

The station has a 10 rating on PlugShare. Looking at the reviews it looks lIke one or both dispensers break every other month. But is fixed within a few days.

Hopefully that is how they treat all their stations.

 

[shadowsjc]

This sucks, I use the free L2 Volta station a block away a couple of times per week (since I have no charging at my apartment building). Guessing they'll convert to a paid model soon after the transaction finalizes

 

[Skip Towne]

I was watching Volta to see who was going to win viable marketshare. I reckon there will be a lot of home EVSE and small providers like Volta falling by the wayside. Their stock has dropped 80% in the past year, and bounced back on the announcement - all the way back to $..80

 

[MellowJohnny]

https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/18/shell-snaps-up-ev-charging-operator-volta-for-169-million/amp/

I thought this was a big-ish deal until I realized Volta is L2…meh. The bigger story to me is Shell continuing to stepping up to play in the EV charging network game. They’ve done some pretty cool concepts in the UK, hopefully that will happen in NA as well.

 

[c max]

I hope this doesn't end the free charging I have been enjoying at the small county zoo in Paramus, NJ and the free charging at the Paramus Park Mall.....losing the free charging would not be the end of the world, but I have become used to it......if gone I'll surely adjust

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