BYD and Shell join forces to offer preferred chargers to owners of the brand's cars

The arrival of electric cars is causing the EV charging infrastructure to grow rapidly across all European countries. Some brands have their own chargers and are, or at least have been for a time, reserved for vehicles of those brands. Tesla is the best-known example, as it only recently opened its Superchargers to users of other brands.

Other brands have chosen to join forces to create a shared charging network, open to everyone, but with special conditions for owners of their own brand vehicles. This is the case of the IONITY network, which was created by BMW, Grupo Volkswagen, Ford Motor Company, Mercedes-Benz Group and Hyundai Motor Group. But other do not have the capacity to create such networks, so they have opted to sign agreements with operators that already have their own charging network.

This is what the increasingly powerful Chinese manufacturer BYD has done. We have already commented several times that they are preparing a major landing in Europe with several models. They have even bought two transport ships to export all their cars to our market. But they lacked a large charging network for their electric cars that would offer an incentive to buy them.

And they have found the solution, as they have just signed an agreement with the oil and energy company Shell, which makes its network of chargers available on a preferential basis to BYD customers. The company’s service stations that have one or more electric car chargers will allow charging with significant discounts for users of BYD vehicles. This service will also be available at other charging points installed on public roads, hotels and other establishments, managed by Shell.

For the time being, there are around 300,000 charging points operated by the company across Europe, under the name Shell Recharge. It operates in 33 countries and around 100,000 BYD customers are expected to use them. In Spain there are 10,000 charging points. Of these, 3,000 offer a charging power of 175 kW, although it is expected that by the end of 2023 these will reach 5,000 fast-charging points.

BYD customers will receive the Shell Recharge platinum subscription and a card. Through the Shell Recharge app they will be able to activate the offer. This means they can charge at any charging network, but it will be at Shell where they will enjoy a special price as BYD car users.