British oil giant BP (NYSE:BP) recently announced job cuts in its electric vehicle charging sector, the latest example of BP layoffs. Indeed, the firings are directed toward BP Pulse to redirect company attention toward its most profitable branches amid growing sentiments away from oil and gas-powered energy.
What do you need to know about BP’s recent layoffs?
Well, BP has cut over 10 percent of its workforce in its electric vehicle (EV) charging branch, according to an internal memo.
“Our EV ambitions have not changed,” BP said, noting that the layoffs are “a step towards ensuring that we can execute our goals with even greater precision and effectiveness.”
It’s unclear exactly how many jobs have been cut in this round of layoffs.
BP Layoffs Continue to Pile up as Energy Transition Plan Struggles
By the end of 2023, BP had over 29,000 electric charging stations around the world. Just a year prior, it had 22,000 charging points. Though it has its eyes set on 100,000 stations by 2030.
Unfortunately, BP’s EV aspirations have fallen flat in some regards. Indeed, with EV adoption wavering this year, as seen in the dwindling sales of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), BP has been forced to roll back some of its plans.
Earlier this year, BP Pulse reduced the number of countries it operated from 12 to just four, optimizing for where it expects the EV market to grow fastest.
BP Pulse has cut over an estimated 100 jobs in recent months, more than 10% of its global workforce of 900. However, many of the employees were apparently moved into other divisions.
Since launching its energy transition strategy in 2020, BP has been forced to abandon several investments in clean energy. This includes bets on commercial EV chargers and its home EV charging business.
“Over the past four years, we’ve been accelerating our efforts to create a third value chain, lower carbon power and hydrogen,” said BP Chief Executive Murray Auchincloss on its February earnings call. “For example, using solar wind to create lower carbon hydrogen to provide to our plants and customers, and using those electrons to service the growing electricity demand through our EV charging business. Why? Because we can deliver higher margins with lower emissions.”
On the date of publication, Shrey Dua did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
