BP has announced it has successfully acquired Chargemaster, the largest EV charging company in the UK, with over 6,500 charging stations across the country. 

Chargemaster will be renamed BP Chargemaster once the deal has been finalised, which will also see charging stations come to BP's 1,200 fuelling stations. Charging points will be able to deliver ultra-fast 150kW fast charging, which can give compatible cars 100 miles worth of driving range in just 10 minutes. For those cars that don't support ultra-fast charging, fast-charging will be available instead. 

The new Chargemaster stations should arrive at current BP stations within the next year. 

The deal has the potential to be a major catalyst in the adoption of electric vehicles. Some buyers may still be put off by the idea of possibly running out of power whilst driving, but with charging points now guaranteed to be on all BP forecourts, those doubts can be quashed. 

Tufan Erginbilgic said: "At BP we believe that fast and convenient charging is critical to support the successful adoption of electric vehicles."

"Combining BP’s and Chargemaster’s complementary expertise, experience and assets is an important step towards offering fast and ultra-fast charging at BP sites across the UK and to BP becoming the leading provider of energy to low carbon vehicles, on the road or at home,"

BP's research tells them there will be some 12 million electric cars on the road by 2040, which will in some way be forced by the UK government's decision to ban sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles by the same time. 

David Martell, Chief Executive of Chargemaster added: "I am truly excited to lead the Chargemaster team into a new era backed by the strength and scale of BP, which will help us maintain our market-leading position and grow the national POLAR charging network to support the large range of exciting new electric vehicles that are coming to market in the next couple of years."