Petrol pump RIP: UK filling stations gone by 2038

For staged 'Death of the Petrol Pump' event, black-dress mourner kneels before fresh grave with pump icon in red, wreath-like R.I.P. letters in green.

Research sounds the death knell for the petrol pump in the UK before the end of the next decade, with the drop in filling-station numbers set to leave fossil-fuel drivers the ones newly at risk of range anxiety.

As the decarbonisation of road transport gathers pace, it comes as no surprise to learn that the electric vehicle (EV) is on the rise worldwide, and the internal combustion engine (ICE) in decline.

What might prove shocking is the speed at which the motoring landscape is going to change, for good.

According to studies undertaken by national EV charging network Be.EV, the rate of transformation means the United Kingdom is forecast to run out of petrol and diesel stations perhaps as soon as 2038.

Death knell for fossil-fuel forecourt

In staged 'Death of the Petrol Pump' event, mock black hearse shows petrol pump visible inside, as if in state, green R.I.P. letters and flowers. — *Mock funeral for fossil fuels staged by charging network Be.EV, complete with EV hearse, as part of its ‘Death of the Petrol Pump’ event*

Close-up of mock black EV hearse in staged 'Death of the Petrol Pump' event, with pump visible, as if in state, green R.I.P. letters and flowers. — *Mock funeral for fossil fuels staged by charging network Be.EV, complete with EV hearse, as part of its ‘Death of the Petrol Pump’ event*

Climate policy clearly has a role to play. So, to some degree, this trend is driven at country level by UK government commitments to phase out all sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030.

For infrastructure, however, the knock-on effects of the ban only form part of the story overall.

According to Be.EV, data shows the typical ‘mom-and-pop’ forecourt has been in terminal decline for some time, with numbers down from roughly 40,000 in 1967 to 8,353 in 2023 — a whopping drop of 75%.

Furthermore, some of the biggest oil and gas giants seem to see the writing on the wall, too.

Shell announced last year that it is divesting from as many as 1,000 of its retail petrol and diesel stations by the end of 2025, in a pivot towards offering EV charging stations instead.

In addition, BP still plans to sell off 1,200 of its petrol stations, despite having made a well-publicised and criticised move away from green energy of late, joining the flow of fossil fuel firms heading for the exit.

The energy transition means the tables truly have been turned, says Asif Ghafoor, CEO of Be.EV:

“It seems that petrolheads should be worried about finding themselves stranded with nowhere to fill up. There are so many headlines about range anxiety for EVs, yet petrol station numbers have been tumbling at such a rate that it might soon be commonplace for petrol drivers to struggle to find a pump.”

Public chargepoints to plug the gap

In response, much-needed EV charging infrastructure is stepping-up to fill the gap, at least in the UK.

Public chargepoints are becoming much more widely located and accessible, enabling multiple mid-journey top-ups to supplement the one million domestic chargers already installed for drivers at home.

Charging en route is also getting quicker. At current rates of roll-out, analysis by Be.EV predicts there will be more rapid and ultra-rapid charging hubs than petrol and diesel stations in just seven years.

In fact, the number of rapid and ultra-rapid charging hubs more than doubled in only one year, going up 103% 2023-2024. If this growth is maintained, the total will outnumber ICE filling stations by mid-2033.

Conversion plan needed for former sites

As demand for EVs overtakes ICEs, the study also calls on UK Government to convert soon-to-be-obsolete petrol stations into EV charging hubs, as Be.EV did with its recent Manchester Charging Oasis.

This EV charging hub of the future has been built on the site of an old petrol station abandoned for 15 years in Failsworth, Manchester. As part of the project, Be.EV commissioned a decontamination process to make the land fit for EV charging, one of the first times this has been done in the UK.

As well as putting old land to work, Be.EV is also making the EVs charging even more accessible for drivers, as they can top up at the site for just 50p/kWh, which is the cheapest ultra-rapid charge in Manchester.

Building on this success, Be.EV is calling on the government and other EV charging providers to follow its lead and start figuring out a plan to make this soon-to-be derelict land useful for UK motorists.

Going forward, a joined-up approach will be vital for conversion projects of this kind, concludes Ghafoor:

“We need government and other charging providers to start putting this soon-to-be-useless land to work so it gives our drivers the rapid and ultra-rapid charging they need.”

Customer and community over kit

Growing fast, Be.EV is the 4th top-rated large rapid and ultra-rapid EV charging network in the UK.

Originally established in Greater Manchester in 2019, the company now operates a network of over 800 live charging bays across the country, with that figure expected to reach 1,600 by the end of 2025.

It is backed by £110M from Octopus Energy Generation — the majority shareholder and one of Europe’s largest renewable energy investors — and a further £55M from lenders NatWest and KfW IPEX-Bank.

At Be.EV, the focus is on what EV drivers of today and tomorrow want: publicly accessible, rapid and ultra-rapid charging hubs conveniently located on busy routes, at dwell destinations and in hearts of communities nationwide. Prioritising customer and community over kit, the network engages closely with its 50,000-plus members who play an active role in shaping cleaner and greener neighbourhoods of the future.

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