The British oil company BP plans to expand its charging network for electric vehicles in the USA and has set its sights on Tesla's Supercharger locations. After Tesla announced a massive layoff in April, the Supercharger team led by Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla's Senior Director for Electric Vehicle Charging, was also let go. According to Bloomberg, however, Tesla has started to rehire some of the nearly 500 employees from its Supercharger team.

BP, which placed an order for Tesla Superchargers worth $100 million in October, is now interested in acquiring Supercharger locations in the United States – along with the employees behind them. "We are aggressively seeking properties to expand our network, which has become an increased focus following the recent Tesla announcement," Reuters quotes a BP spokesperson.

BP had already announced in February 2023 that it would invest one billion US dollars in electric vehicle charging stations in the USA by 2030. According to Bloomberg, half of this amount is to be invested in the next two to three years to install over 3,000 charging points in the USA. BP's focus is on the Northeast, the entire Sun Belt, along the West Coast, and the Great Lakes region. A key part of the strategy is the establishment of large hubs - so-called Gigahubs - with twelve or more chargers.

The chargers from the BP Pulse brand will be compatible with both the North American Charging Standard (NACS) and the Combined Charging System (CCS), reports Reuters. This will make it possible to charge electric vehicle models from various manufacturers. So, BP does not only intend to focus on Tesla vehicles but also to serve other electric cars at its charging stations.