MOTORING NEWS - Even oil companies have begun to realise the future will not be nearly as reliant on fossil fuels as the present, and Royal Dutch Shell is moving to safeguard its future business.
The Dutch oil company acquired NewMotion, an electric-car charging station firm, for an undisclosed price in mid-October.
NewMotion, also based in the Netherlands, has more than 30 000 electric-car charging stations in Europe, according to CNN.
The company specialises in converting normal parking spaces into charging points for electric cars.
Shell called the acquisition a "form of diversification" as the company acknowledges future fossil-fuel bans.
North American oil producers haven't acted as quickly as European-based producers like Shell and BP. In the past year, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and France have all laid out plans to phase out the internal-combustion engine by no later than 2040.
The regulations hit home for European oil producers more than Exxon or Chevron, both US-based companies.
"We feel closer to it," said Matthew Tipper, Shell's vice president of new fuels.
"The degree to which electrification is changing mobility is very, very apparent here. It leads to this mindset."
The mere idea that Shell employs a "vice president of new fuels" is further evidence of acceptance of changes going forward.
NewMotion believes it can expand its business with Shell's lengthy list of corporate clients.
Most studies agree peak oil demand will occur sometime within the next 5 to 15 years. Shell's purchase of NewMotion comes after the company itself predicted peak oil demand might occur as soon as 2020.
ARTICLE: GREENCARREPORTS.COM
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