Can Oil Majors Make Electric Vehicle Charging Pay?

One of the more surprising implications of the energy transition is energy companies actually trying to sell you energy. For example, today you buy gasoline, sure, but no one sells it to you. You show up randomly and pump the gas yourself. Possibly you’re influenced by saving a cent per gallon versus some other place nearby. But you buy gas because you have to.

This is why the oil business is mostly geared toward finding barrels; demand takes care of itself. Now electric vehicles are messing with that. The latest peak demand call comes from Goldman Sachs, which now expects road fuel consumption to top out in five years. One way to deal with this is to swap out pumps for plugs. Making a go of that, however, means really selling those electrons.