Engie has acquired UK electric vehicle (EV) public charging provider ChargePoint Services (CPS) as it strives to expand its EV portfolio.

The acquisition of CPS, which owns and operates charging network GeniePoint, is aimed to enhance Engie’s end-to-end EV charging solution and help the company tackle air quality.

It feeds into Engie’s EV focus, with the French energy major having provided over 75,000 charging stations worldwide as well as owning EV manufacturer EVBox. This new acquisition will create a combined UK public rapid charging network of over 400 stations and a fast network of over 500 by the end of 2019.

The deal will provide Engie with the EV charging capabilities required for local authorities, business and home-owners, with CPS bringing GeniePoint’s 20,000 network customers and its cloud-based data and control platform.

This is not the only company Engie has set its sights on recently, having acquired a majority stake in energy and flexibility aggregator KiWi Power last year.

With CPS being the latest addition to its portfolio, Engie seems to be following in the footsteps of other energy majors such as Shell, which recently invested in domestic battery storage firm sonnen and bought out aggregator Limejump.

Nicola Lovett, CEO of Engie UK & Ireland, said the ChargePoint Services deal is an important step towards scaling up Engie’s EV ambitions.

“It also enables us to work closely with our many business customers to support their ambitions to decarbonise their own fleets and support their employee’s adoption of low and zero carbon vehicles,” Lovett continued.

Alex Bamberg, Managing Director of ChargePoint Services, said: “With the demand for EV charging across the UK increasing rapidly as vehicles with longer range and reduced charging times are launched by the motor industry, we will together be well placed to support the transition to EV in the UK and the drive for cleaner air quality.”