Electric-vehicle (EV) charging network Volta Inc., acquired by Houston-based Shell USA in 2023, said the energy giant and its affiliates will take over operations, according to a March 29 WARN notice to Volta employees. The oil company acquired Volta Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $169 million last year.
“Volta is winding down its operations,” Volta’s President and CEO Brandt Hastings said in the notice. “This will involve Volta’s cessation of all operations and termination of all employees effective May 31.”
The notice affects more than 150 employees, but the “vast majority” of Volta’s employees have received offers of employment from Shell or its affiliates to begin work effective June 1.
Volta’s assets include an existing public EV charging network of more than 3,000 charge points at destination sites including convenience stores across 31 U.S. states and territories; a development pipeline of more than 3,400 additional charge points and capabilities to continue developing, operating and monetizing EV charging infrastructure.
- Shell is No. 45 on CSP’s 2023 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by total number of company-owned retail outlets.
In 2023, István Kapitány, executive vice president of Shell Mobility Co. Operations LLC, Houston, said the transaction goes beyond providing a charging service. “Volta specializes in generating advertising revenues from screens embedded into the chargepoint, adding a source of nonfuel revenue from sites both in the U.S. and globally,” he said. Kapitány was among CSP's Power 20 in 2019.
Last week, Kapitány on LinkedIn said that he is leaving on July 1, after 37 years with the energy giant. His move comes as Shell is pushing ahead with its growth of EV charging and convenience-store offers but will divest around 500 Shell-owned sites globally each in 2024 and in 2025, the major oil company said in March.
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