The largest gas station operator in the United States, the 5th largest in Minnesota, has shared its plans to close 1,000 locations over the next two years.

As spring arrives, gas prices are on the rise again across the country with the average price per gallon in the U.S. currently sitting at about $3.53. That is 25 cents more than a month ago, and 9 cents more than a year ago.

In Minnesota, the average price p/gallon is $3.35, an increase of 20 cents from a month ago, and an 11-cent increase from a year ago.

READ MORE: Discount Chain With 100+ Minnesota Locations Plans to Close 1,000 Stores

As gas prices continue to trend upward, so does the popularity of electric vehicles.

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Shell to Close Around 1,000 Gas Stations Over Two Years

Shell plc has confirmed its plans to "divest" around 500 shell-owned gas stations in 2024 and 500 more in 2025 as part of its effort to expand its EV charging services, the company said in its Energy Transition Statement 2024 report.

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Why is Shell Closing Gas Stations?

Shell says it will be directing more of its resources to support customers who wish to make the change from gas vehicles to electric vehicles.

"We are upgrading our retail network, with expanded electric vehicle charging and convenience offers, in response to changing customer needs," the report says.

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Which Shell Gas Stations Are Closing?

Shell has not released the exact locations that will be shuttered over the next two years, but they did talk about their plans to increase the number of public EV charging points they operate worldwide from 54,000 today to 200,000 by 2030, with a primary focus on China and Europe.

"We are focusing on public charging, rather than home charging, because we believe it will be needed most by our customers," the report continues.

In Minnesota, despite the reported early success of the Twin Cities' Evie Carshare program, the overall adoption of electric vehicles has been somewhat slow with just over 24,000 registered EVs, compared to 33,150 in Michigan and nearly 67,000 in Illinois. Coming at no surprise, California has the highest number of registered EVs (903,620) followed by Florida (167,990) and Texas (149,000), according to the U.S. Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center.

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How Many Shell Locations Are There in Minnesota?

Shell currently operates 12,265 gas stations across the United States, 71 of which are located in Minnesota, making it the 5th largest in the state behind Circle K (264 locations), Speedway (242 locations), Kwik Trip (212 locations), and BP (168 locations).

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli

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