Gasoline sector matures towards electromobility

While the gas station market is becoming more mature in Mexico, how is it observed with the exit and entry of gas station brands after the Total Energies case that informed its convenience store suppliers of the exit from the market of 11 service stations, in addition to competition with the available tools as in the case of the government Gas Stations for Well-being, electromobility will be the new milestone for which the industry and the country must prepare.

Luis Guillermo Pineda Bernal, commissioner of the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) said in an interview at the Puebla 2022 Summit of the National Organization of Oil Dispensers (Onexpo) that the regulator is already working to create regulations on the also known as electrolineras, although There is still no defined deadline for it to be submitted.

So far there are 1,189 electric stations alone while there are 2,193 chargers at service stations, but electromobility is a global trend to which Mexico will have to adapt.

For this reason, gas stations must “get their batteries”, because the trends are towards the energy transition, technological development, the electrification of transport, the growth of renewable energies, a demographic change in many cities.

“The rise of electric cars comes in a very exponential way,” he said, “although electromobility is a great opportunity in Latin America, we have to take it very calmly and carry out orderly planning with an adequate balance.”

According to Pineda, the sale of electric and hybrid vehicles was 47,079 units in 2021, a growth of 92.9% in contrast to the previous year when more than the National Institute of Statistics and Geography reported 24,404 units sold in the country.

Until August, 31,008 electric and hybrid cars have been sold, 3.1% more than in the same period last year.

Finally, the official assured that this year it will be possible to exceed 500 permits for new service stations in the country, after the controversy over delays in granting by the CRE.

It should be remembered that, until November, the regulator has delivered 433 permits for gas stations and there are still two sessions of the CRE’s governing body in December, so it expects 67 more to be approved, said Pineda Bernal.

“We think and hope, at least it is my committed goal, to reach at least 500 service stations already approved this year, with this we will close with good accounts,” said the commissioner to gas station businessmen, to whom to continue investing in the growth of the business.

And it is that as of November 2022 the number of gas stations in the country reached 13,315 establishments, although the previous year less than half of the permits for new businesses were approved than the average that had been approved since the opening of the sector, which were 350 stations. of new service every year, derived from the cessation of activities of the CRE due to the restrictions of the Covid 19 pandemic.

Gasoline market in process of maturity

The exit of brands from the service station market is a positive sign, because it reflects the maturation process of the gas station sector, said Jorge Mijares Casas, president of Onexpo.

“I see it as a very positive sign in that it is a market that is in the process of maturing and that happens in open markets that are maturing with the entry and exit of participants,” said the former president of the organization. , Roberto Díaz de León, about the exit of 11 gas stations from the French company Total Energies.