A visit to Shell’s new-look shop on its four-year-old all-electric forecourt a week after it re-opened on April 15, reveals a pared-back outlet which prioritises an airy, spacious feel ahead of an extensive food offer.
On London’s Fulham Road, the Shell Recharge 10-bay electric vehicle charging hub is in an upscale part of the capital, and the oil giant arguably took a risk with switching the site from a Little Waitrose to one supplied by Co-op Wholesale.
On entering the 915sq ft shop with an additional cafe seating area, the first thing you notice is the generous allocation of space between the displays. There are now two low-height islands at the entrance, instead of three higher ones before. And even the chillers in the centre of the store are low too creating a breezy, uncluttered feel.
Another surprise, along the wall on the left-hand side while entering is a large InPost parcel locker inside the shop. Lack of space outside and not wanting to grapple with possible planning issues is the reason behind this. But the site is not 24-hours and this might be an issue for locals wanting to collect and send parcels at irregular times.
The grocery range, which Shell describes as ‘an expanded Proud to Stock Co-op offer’, is well curated. It suits its high-end local customer base who often arrive on foot, with just one parking bay allocated to non-electric vehicle drivers. These are catered for with a basic offer of top-up essentials, from dried pasta, to toiletries and greetings cards.
And for those charging their cars – who are typically customers with more disposable income than their petrol car driving contemporaries – there is a strong eat-now offer, whether to eat in the car or the 18-seat café.
Symbolic of the Co-op brand, the range has an emphasis on chilled, with no frozen food apart from ice-cream and the newly-introduced single-door freezer for five shelves of Co-op ice cubes.
Reflecting the tastes and spending power of its customers, Shell Fulham stocks salmon fillets, Irresistible-branded sausages, olives, profiteroles, lemons and salad items. There is a four-door refrigerator of chilled beers and wines; and an even bigger six-door soft drinks unit.
A two-door snack chiller houses chicken satay and dip, Gazebo samosas, and Fridge Raiders, alongside sandwiches in a £6 meal deal, and there is a two-door ready-meal/pizza chiller, and another of the same size for milk and juices.
There is a display of high-end wines including Les Pionniers Non Vintage Champagne at £38.15, and a Fair Trade Tilimuqui Sparkling Wine at £10.75.
Shell has also done away with the Costa Coffee café replacing it with a Deli by Shell hot food and bakery, with a Costa machine manned by staff behind the counter, which doubles as a checkout for the store. Top sellers are a raspberry iced and Millionaire’s Donut retailing at £2.90, or on a three for two option.
There is a meal deal too on the hot food, which includes a sausage bap, chicken samosa and bacon & cheese turnover. Multi-buy deals are a theme throughout.
Shell has taken the opportunity of introducing the new totem with Co-op branding to introduce the price of charging on the sign, at 79kW/h when we visited on April 21, with a 10p reduction for customers using the Shell app.
But we could not help feeling that Shell has missed a trick by not installing plug-points for customers to charge their devices while enjoying the free wi-fi in the café’s seated area. Customers are allowed to dwell at the site for up to an hour before facing a fine prompted by the ANPR technology.
We were also disappointed to see that a free-to-use water refill station had been removed, as had a former ‘Welcome to the service station of the future’ noticeboard which had talked about the environmental credentials of the site. EV drivers are the audience which would welcome reading about the sustainability of the site, after all.
For there are many green features at Shell Fulham. It has a timber canopy, using less energy than the conventional steel forecourt equivalent, with solar panels that supply around a quarter of the service station’s energy needs. Meanwhile, double glazing helps reduce overall energy consumption within the shop, as does the doors on the chillers, which the site does highlight instore as helping to cut its carbon footprint.
With EV becoming more mainstream, perhaps Shell feels that its EV-only site is less futuristic than when it opened in 2022, or maybe that it would be preaching to the converted. But EV-only sites are still somewhat of a novelty despite BP opening a similar format a little over two miles down the road with M&S in Hammersmith.
At this year’s NEC Forecourt Show, Janine Albrecht, general manager, Shell UK Mobility & Convenience, told the audience that other Shell EV-only sites could follow outside of London.
Shell has over 40 hubs with more than six chargers throughout the UK, but Shell Fulham is its sole EV-only forecourt. It has installed ultra-rapid 175 kW chargepoints.
Albrecht says that Shell Fulham is designed to support increasing EV adoption in urban areas and forms part of its wider programme to expand public charging options across the UK.
“We are excited about the opportunity to revamp our Fulham site. By trialling new convenience formats alongside ultra rapid charging, we are exploring what best meets the evolving needs of EV customers and the communities we serve,” says Albrecht.
