BP has entered into an agreement to buy the UK’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging company.

The energy giant says purchasing Chargemaster is an important step in scaling up and deploying a fast and ultra-fast charging network on its UK forecourts.

The low carbon mobility firm, which owns and manages more than 6,500 charging points across the country, will be rebranded to BP Chargemaster.

BP anticipates the number of EVs on British roads to increase rapidly in coming decades, reaching 12 million by 2040, up from around 135,000 in 2017.

Tufan Erginbilgic, CEO of BP Downstream, said: “Combining BP’s and Chargemaster’s complementary expertise, experience and assets is an important step towards offering fast and ultra-fast charging at BP sites across the UK and to BP becoming the leading provider of energy to low carbon vehicles, on the road or at home.”

BP says its customers in the UK can expect to access BP Chargemaster points on forecourts within the next year.