Shell Recharge to no longer offer software for third-party chargers in the US
Shell Recharge now says it will only continue to support third-party charging stations until 30 April. After that, the ‘Shell Sky’ will be switched off, and Shell Recharge Solutions stickers will be removed from the charging stations.
Shell Sky is a cloud-based software for managing charging stations. It was initially developed by the software startup Greenlots, which Shell acquired in 2019. Greenlots was rebranded as Shell Recharge at the beginning of 2022. Fortunately for existing customers, it is hardware-independent and uses OCPP, an open protocol for connecting and managing charging stations. That means charging stations using the management software can be migrated to other OCPP-compatible software providers, either remotely or on-site.
Apparently, Shell also recommends alternative solutions to its software customers. “Shell has MOUs with three [charge point management system] CPMS providers and would be happy to make introductions to these companies if interested,” it says in an email to a customer, cited by the US portal Electrek.
The same email also states that Shell Recharge is “focusing our investments where we have a competitive advantage.” Accordingly, Shell intends to invest in Shell’s own public charging network, which currently consists of more than 70,000 charging stations worldwide.
ChargeLab, which recently completed the migration of more than 1,400 JuiceBox EV chargers after Enel X Way North America discontinued its electric mobility business in October, has already announced support for Shell Sky customers looking for a new charging management system. Pulse Energy is also offering migration support for neighbourhood EV charging stations using Shell Sky software.
“We applaud Shell’s decision to notify customers at least 90 days before turning off its software,” said Shaun Stewart, ChargeLab’s President. “At the same time, this remains a short window to complete the steps necessary to migrate to a new back-end. We encourage customers using Shell Sky™ to contact us as soon as possible to start the migration process.”
Shell is also currently restructuring its charging business in other ways: Dutch company 50five will take over responsibility for Shell Recharge Solutions’ home and workplace chargers – in a total of six markets, including Germany.
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