Oil giant Shell turned an old gas station into an EV-only charging hub with free WiFi and solar panels in its timber canopies. Take a look around.

Shell Recharge in Fulham, London, opened in January 2022.Stephen Jones

• Oil giant Shell converted one of its gas stations into an EV-only charging hub.
• It features nine charge points, a supermarket, a coffee shop, and free WiFi.

You won't find any fossil fuel-powered cars filling up at Shell's old gas station on Fulham Road, London, UK.

What was once a run-of-the-mill gas station is now something rather different. Shell has converted the site into a charging hub exclusively for electric vehicles (EVs).

The Shell Recharge station opened in January 2022. According to Shell, it's the first time it has converted one of its existing gas stations into an EV-only charging hub.

Demand for new EVs is outpacing charging infrastructure. Some 190,000 new EVs were registered in the UK in 2021, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders – yet there are just under 29,000 EV charging points in the UK, according to ZapMap, whose figures are cited by the UK government.

Campaigners say the mismatch could hinder the mass adoption of EVs, making it hard for the government to meet its goal of phasing out sales of new fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2030. President Joe Biden wants EVs to represent half of US new car sales by the same year.

So companies including Shell are investing to meet EV demand.