By Michael Elkins
BP Pulse (NYSE:BP) announced yesterday that the company plans to establish a Gigahub network designed to serve ride-hail and taxi fleets near U.S. airports and high-demand locations across the nation. The first planned location would be built near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in collaboration with Hertz (NASDAQ:HTZ) and is partially funded by a grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC).
The CEC is providing a $2 million grant award to support the project to build the series of large EV fast-charging hubs with bp leading the installation and management of the infrastructure.
"More and more ride-hail and taxi fleets are making bold commitments to electrify. To do so successfully, they will need access to reliable EV charging. Our Gigahub network will provide a charging experience that is convenient and cost-optimized to drivers at airports across the country." — Vic Shao, president of bp pulse's fleet division.
Jeff Nieman, Senior Vice President of Operations Initiatives at Hertz, added: "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."
Shares of BP are up 3.65% while HTZ is down 1.24% in mid-day trading on Thursday.