Can oil companies succeed in the new energy competition?

The British oil company, BP, is reported to invest 20 million dollars in an Israeli developer of ultra-fast-charging batteries. Though 20 million dollar investment is comparable with its multibillion investment in oil and gas each year, it shows that the oil company is trying to find a new path for its future business. However, what is the chance for BP, or other oil companies, to succeed in the new energy competition?

Electric vehicles are not new and many auto companies have already released their electric vehicles to the market, Tesla may be one of the most famous electric vehicle developers. The current issue for electric vehicles competing for their market share in the auto market is people do not have convenient access to the power (charger). There is no single provider to provide a general solution for this problem, then this is a market with potential. BP is such company which wants to win this opportunity in the auto industry.

BP has its advantage that it can use its stations to provide chargers for electric vehicles. Then if BP has an efficient solution for electric vehicles' energy supply, it can win the market quickly and easily via its existing power network. However, BP's biggest weakness is it is too big. BP generates its majority of revenues in its oil and gas business. If BP decides to move to the electric vehicle business, it means it has to give up some of its revenues in its petrol business, which could be really painful for its early stage of transformation and be attacked by its shareholders, this might be the reason that why BP has only invested 20 million dollars in this ultra-fast-charging battery developer.

Overall, I think that oil companies like BP cannot be the leader in the new energy competition, since they are too big to be flexible and they cannot give up the huge profits from their petrol business lying ahead of them.