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Shell plans to replace oil stations with electric charging stations

The increase in the number of electric cars on the road necessarily requires an increase in the number of charging stations, which opens new business opportunities for oil companies to become interested in this field of investment. One of them is the British company Shell, which intends to increase the number of its electric charging stations.

The British company announced the “Energy Transition Strategy 2024” plan, which includes investment in the construction of charging stations. However, this requires a large amount of money, and the first move Shell intends to make is to sell 1,000 of its current oil stations over the next two years.

In 2023, Shell Recharge EV had 27,000 electric chargers in various locations around the world, and last year that number was increased to 54,000 chargers. Now, the company intends to increase the number of chargers to more than 300,000 worldwide by the end of the decade.

“There are about 40 million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road in the world today, and by 2030 there are expected to be 275 million. The availability of chargers will be critical for the growth of electric vehicles,” the company said.

Although Shell’s chargers are not compatible with the Tesla Supercharger or Electrify America networks, the British company has over 3,000 chargers in 31 US states, and more than 3,400 additional chargers are in development. Also, Shell Recharge EV last year opened its largest electric vehicle charging station (258 chargers) at the airport in Shenzhen, China. It was a good business decision considering that data shows that more than 3,300 electric vehicles use this station every day.

Shell believes that the demand for oil will decrease over time and that gasoline will not be primary in the future. “We believe that oil demand growth will slow down in the second half of this decade, and a more intense decline could occur in the next decade due to increased efficiency and growth in sales of electric vehicles,” the company said.

Source: Bloomberg

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Leapmotor T03 will be produced in Poland

Chinese car manufacturers are trying in every way to avoid problems with importing electric cars to the European market, and one of the ways is production on European soil. After BYD and Chery decided to produce their cars on European soil, another Chinese company will do the same. Leapmotor has announced that it will assemble its small electric car, the T03, in Poland.

In October 2023, Stellantis formed a joint venture with Leapmotor, where the world’s largest conglomerate will have a 51 percent stake with the rights to export, sell and manufacture Leapmotor electric vehicles outside of China. Stellantis’ factory in Poland will be the place where the T03 will be produced, and production will start in Q2 of this year.

The car will be manufactured using SKD assembly, which is the simplest way to assemble the car. It should be noted that the Fiat 500 and Jeep Avenger are produced in the same factory. Currently, T03 can be bought in France, and the plan is to expand to other European markets.

In 2023, Stellantis bought 20% of Leapmotor for €1.5 billion. It was a good financial injection for the Chinese company, which will improve its sales results in the domestic market, but also expand its business outside of China. Shares of Leapmotor have risen about 22 percent in Hong Kong in 2023, making the company’s market value exceed $5.4 billion. On that occasion, the company’s founder Zhu Jiangming said: “Today it is a great milestone in Leapmotor’s history, and I am thrilled to witness this moment together with Mr. Tavares and his team. We believe in win-win partnerships formed by strong players in the fast-evolving environment. Working with Stellantis, we will continue to be innovative and creative in technology and business synergies and will bring Leapmotor EV cars to the global market.”

Source: Reuters, Photo: CNEV

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Leapmotor T03 will be produced in Poland
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1956 Porsche 356A European Coupe sold for $239,000 USD

One example of Porsche’s first production model, the 1956 Porsche 356A European Coupe, sold at auction for $239,000 USD. This is an outstanding example of the second version of this model, which was produced from 1955 to 1959, and also a rare T1 “European” variant.

The car won First in Class in the A-Coupe category at the 2013 356 Registry West Coast Holiday in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the previous owner bought it in 2021 at BaT. It is finished in Aquamarine Blue Metallic and really looks magnificent. It is equipped with a single decklid grill, quad taillights with LED bulbs, body-colored bumpers with aluminum guards, European badging, Hirschmann-style red-tip retractable antenna, rebuilt brake drums supplied by Martin Willis Machine Shop of Colorado Springs, and a Koni shock absorbers with a Willhoit Auto Restoration sway bar up front.

Inside, the seats are reupholstered in gray Connolly leather that also covers the door panels, dash and rear bench, with blue square-weave carpets protected by black rubber floor mats. In front of the driver are an ivory-colored two-spoke steering wheel and a reset five-digit odometer showing 6,510 miles (total mileage is unknown).

This Porsche 356A is powered by a 1,883cc air-cooled flat-four engine installed ten years ago during a refurbishment that included the installation of a Competition Engineering machined case, LN Engineering “Nickies” cylinders housing 90mm forged pistons with Porsche 912 connecting rods, dual Weber 44mm IDF carburetors, and 6″ sport air filters and 4″ velocity stacks. Last year, a 12-volt electrical system, Porsche 912 heads with 34mm exhaust valves, Aluminum oil cooler, LN Engineering Torquer camshaft, YnZ’s Yesterday’s Parts wiring harness, Chromoly pushrods, 123Ignition distributor, and full-flow oil filter system were installed. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a Porsche 741 four-speed manual transmission.

Along with the car, the new owner received refurbishment records, a copy of the Kardex, a Porsche Certificate of Authenticity, and a clean Arizona title.

Source: Bring a Trailer

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