This oil giant and Hertz are building a massive fast-charging network for EV rentals starting at LAX
Bp Pulse, the global oil leader’s charging infrastructure unit, is teaming up with Hertz to build a network of EV fast chargers in high-demand locations such as airports. The project aims to accelerate EV adoption by providing charging solutions where they are most needed.
In September, Hertz and Bp signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a national EV charging network. The plans include using Bp Pulse, the oil giant’s EV charging division, to lead the rollout.
Through the partnership, Bp Pulse manages Hertz EV charging infrastructure, providing its Omega software to show real-time data such as power usage, pricing, and more.
Having charging solutions makes sense, with Hertz quickly expanding its zero-emission EV fleet. It started with a 100,000 Tesla Model 3 order last year while later adding Model Y options.
In April, the car rental company said it would introduce 65,000 Polestar EVs to its fleet over the next five years. And more recently, Hertz placed a massive order for 175,000 GM electric cars. Through these initiatives, Hertz has tens of thousands of EVs across 38 US states.
Perhaps more important is where these drivers are headed. In most instances, when renting a car, you drop it off at or close to the airport.
BP Pulse and Hertz expand EV charging initiative
The first planned site of the partnership is at a Hertz location near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), serving as a hub primarily for ride-hail and taxi fleets.
A $2 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) will partially fund the project near LAX, with Bp Pulse in charge of installation and infrastructure management.
The development of the new EV charging hub is designed to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles while providing the necessary infrastructure to ease the transition.
Jeff Nieman, SVP of operations initiatives at Hertz, says:
Our aim is to provide Hertz customers with access to a national network of chargers that makes the experience of renting an electric vehicle convenient and seamless. Rideshare drivers are essential to the mobility landscape and more than 25,000 Uber drivers have rented EVs through Hertz to date. We are thrilled to partner with bp pulse to offer this charging hub to those drivers at one of Hertz’s great sites near LAX. And it’s just the beginning.
Although no specifics are stated, the new project aims to “mitigate the environmental impact” of the significant ride-sharing growth in LA’s transportation. Electric ride-sharers are some of the most frequent users of EV chargers.
According to Patty Monohan, lead California energy commissioner for Transportation:
Vehicles employed by California’s ride-hailing fleets make up 2.5 percent of the vehicle population, but consume 30 percent of all public fast charging. The California Energy Commission is proud to support projects like the Gigahub network by bp pulse, near LAX in partnership with Hertz, two transportation powerhouses who are working together to help electrify ride-hailing and rental fleets and cut pollution in communities.
Bp aims to roll out 100,000 EV chargers by the decade’s end through its BP Pulse division.
Electrek’s Take
It’s interesting that a global oil giant like Bp is leading an initiative to install fast chargers to accelerate EV adoption since the very same innovation looks to destroy the company’s industry.
At the same time, installing fast chargers near airports and other high-demand areas makes sense. Several new initiatives are already accelerating demand for zero-emission EVs, and it’s only forecasted to pick up from here.
Does Bp see the writing on the wall that electric vehicles are the future? Earlier this year, Bp claimed that EV charging stations are closing in on gas pumps in terms of profitability.
The oil company is investing heavily in EV charging through BP Pulse, working with several companies like Volkswagen and Tritium to deploy infrastructure.
I think it’s telling to see Bp, a top-ten global oil company, progressively digging deeper into EV charging, the same advancement created to stop the use of fossil fuels and the air pollution associated with them.
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Environment
Elon Musk Tapped to Lead New ‘DOGE’ Department—Despite the Government Already Having One for Efficiency
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is to officially join Trump’s administration as the co-head of the new US Department of Government Efficiency – a second federal department with the goal of making government spending more efficient.
You can’t get more ironic than that.
Throughout the elections, Musk, who is already CEO of Tesla, and SpaceX, a well as the defacto head of X, xAI, Neuralink, and the Boring Company, has been floating the idea to add to his workload by joining the Trump’s administration to lead a new department aimed at making the federal government more efficient.
He has been calling it the “Department of Government Efficiency”, which spells out ‘DOGE’, a meme that Musk appears to enjoy.
Well, now Trump appears to want to be going through with this idea.
He announced the new department and Musk as head, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, in a statement today:
I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”). Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the “Save America” Movement. “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” stated Mr. Musk.
What’s most ironic is that there’s already a federal department with the goal of cutting government waste and ensuring efficiency: the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The GAO’s main objectives are:
- auditing agency operations to determine whether federal funds are being spent efficiently and effectively;
- investigating allegations of illegal and improper activities;
- reporting on how well government programs and policies are meeting their objectives;
- performing policy analyses and outlining options for congressional consideration;
- issuing legal decisions and opinions;
- advising Congress and the heads of executive agencies about ways to make government more efficient and effective
It sounds similar to what Musk described when talking about his DOGE, but Trump hasn’t gone into many details other than it will “cut waste.”
He also has a confusing message as he compares the initiative, which is supposed to cut government spending, to “The Manhattan project”, a massive and expensive government project.
Trump said that DOGE will help the government “drive large scale structural reform”:
It will become, potentially, “The Manhattan Project” of our time. Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of “DOGE” for a very long time. To drive this kind of drastic change, the Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.
The statement also noted that DOGE will only operate until July 4, 2026.
Musk has previously claimed that he could cut at least $2 trillion dollars of the $6.5 trillion dollar US federal budget.
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A pump jack in Midland, Texas, US, on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024.
Anthony Prieto | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Oil prices may see a drastic fall in the event that oil alliance OPEC+ unwinds its existing output cuts, said market watchers who are predicting a bearish year ahead for crude.
“There is more fear about 2025’s oil prices than there has been since years — any year I can remember, since the Arab Spring,” said Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at OPIS, an oil price reporting agency.
“You could get down to $30 or $40 a barrel if OPEC unwound and didn’t have any kind of real agreement to rein in production. They’ve seen their market share really dwindle through the years,” Kloza added.
A decline to $40 a barrel would mean around a 40% erasure of current crude prices. Global benchmark Brent is currently trading at $72 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures are around $68 per barrel.
Oil prices year-to-date
Given that oil demand growth next year probably won’t be much more than 1 million barrels a day, a full unwinding of OPEC+ supply cuts in 2025 would “undoubtedly see a very steep slide in crude prices, possibly toward $40 a barrel,” Henning Gloystein, head of energy, climate and resources at Eurasia Group, told CNBC.
Similarly, MST Marquee’s senior energy analyst Saul Kavonic posited that should OPEC+ unwind cuts without regard to demand, it would “effectively amount to a price war over market share that could send oil to lows not seen since Covid.”
However, the alliance is more likely to opt for a gradual unwinding early next year, compared to a full scale and immediate one, the analysts said.
Should the producers group proceed with their production plan, the market surplus could nearly double.
Martoccia Francesco
Energy strategist at Citi
The oil cartel has been exercising discipline in maintaining its voluntary output cuts, to the point of extending them.
In September, OPEC+ postponed plans to begin gradually rolling back on the 2.2 million barrels per day of voluntary cuts by two months in an effort to stem the slide of oil prices. The 2.2 million bpd cut, which was implemented over the second and third quarters, had been due to expire at the end of September.
At the start of this month, the oil cartel again decided to delay the planned oil output increase by another month to the end of December.
Oil prices have been weighed by a sluggish post-Covid recovery in demand from China, the world’s second-largest economy and leading crude oil importer. In its monthly report released Tuesday, OPEC lowered its 2025 global oil demand growth forecast from 1.6 million barrels per day to 1.5 million barrels per day.
The pressured prices were also conflagrated by a perceivably oversupplied market, especially as key oil producers outside the OPEC alliance like the U.S., Canada, Guyana and Brazil are also planning to add supply, Gloystein highlighted.
Bearish year ahead for oil
The market consensus is that there’ll be a “substantial” oil stock build next year, said Citibank energy strategist Martoccia Francesco.
“Should the producers group proceed with their production plan, the market surplus could nearly double… reaching as much as 1.6 million barrels per day,” said Francesco.
Even if OPEC+ doesn’t unwind the cuts, the future ofl prices is still looking break. Citi analysts expect Brent price to average $60 per barrel next year.
Further fueling the bearish outlook is the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, whose return is associated by some with a potential trade war, said analysts who spoke to CNBC.
“If we do get a trade war — and a lot of economists think that a trade war is possible, and particularly against China — we could see much, much lower prices,” said OPIS’ Kloza.
Trump has also touted a “drill baby drill” policy for U.S. producers, vowing to cut energy prices in half.
For that to happen to retail gasoline prices, oil would need to drop to “below $40” per barrel, said Matt Smith, Kpler’s lead oil analyst.
Right now, retail gasoline prices are at a “sweet spot” at $3 per gallon, where consumers do not feel the pinch and input prices are still sufficiently high for producers, Smith added.
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