Petrotec Group named World’s Best Established Brand at the 2026 CHARGE Awards

The Portuguese service station equipment and mobility group received the top award in Florence, finishing ahead of EDP and Octopus Energy. An international jury praised its “rare ability to make industrial engineering feel genuinely desirable.”

Petrotec Group has been named World’s Best Established Brand at the 2026 CHARGE Awards, the international program recognizing outstanding brands in the energy sector. The award was presented on October 19 at Teatro del Sale in Florence during the CHARGE Europe 2026 conference, organized with the support of Baker Hughes.

Petrotec Group won the category ahead of fellow finalists EDP and Octopus Energy. It was also the only B2B industrial group among finalists otherwise comprising energy production and retail companies. The World’s Best Established Brand category recognizes long-standing companies that continue to reinvent how their brands are built, communicated and experienced. Previous winners include E.ON. With this award, Petrotec Group joins a list of energy brands recognized throughout the CHARGE program’s more than decade-long history, including EDP, Baker Hughes, Red Rocket and Ostrom.

What the Jury Said

The CHARGE Awards are evaluated by an independent panel of senior energy and brand-management executives, including previous winners, academics and professionals from organizations such as Statkraft, Octopus Energy, E.ON, bp, DNV, Brandpie and Saffron. Petrotec Group was one of the highest-scoring brands across all categories this year.

In its assessment, the jury described Petrotec Group as:

• “A comprehensive brand transformation that stood out against the competition in the category.”
• “One of the highest-scoring brands overall, recognized for its genuine differentiation and exceptional strategic execution.”
• “A benchmark example of a brand strategy fully integrated with business strategy.”
• “The creative execution demonstrates a rare ability to make industrial engineering feel genuinely desirable.”

The CHARGE trophy is carved from Icelandic volcanic rock, a nod to the program’s origins in Reykjavík.

“This recognition reflects the work we have been doing to shape the future of mobility, backed by more than four decades of European engineering. It belongs to our team, whose knowledge and commitment make this progress possible, and to the customers and partners who place their trust in us. We are proud of this milestone, but remain firmly focused on what comes next.” - ​Nuno Cabral – Petrotec Group CEO

“For us, the brand was never a layer placed on top of the business. It is the business, made visible. ‘Opening Mobility’ is our commitment to serving every form of mobility, whether fuel, electric or hydrogen, and this award recognizes the work of a team that turned that commitment into products, services and experiences that people can see and touch. We share it with the partners and customers who have built it alongside us for more than four decades.” - ​João Maia Dias – Global Head of Brand

The Brand Behind the Award

The recognition is the result of a group-wide brand transformation built around a single idea: Opening Mobility. While much of the energy sector has taken sides between electric mobility, hydrogen and conventional fuels, Petrotec Group positioned itself as the partner serving all three. Its multi-energy stations combine fuel dispensing, DC charging, hydrogen refueling, payments and automation in an integrated offering, supported by one of the industry’s largest technical service networks.

The jury highlighted the integration between the company’s brand strategy and business strategy. The central move was Opening Mobility itself: a group-wide brand strategy that repositioned Petrotec Group not as a fuel equipment manufacturer adapting to the energy transition, but as a partner for every form of mobility.

Under this strategy, during the period assessed, the Group:

• Launched its first hydrogen refueling station in 2025, featuring Hellonext’s Axon H2 dispenser. Developed with Toyota | Caetano Bus in Ovar, Portugal, the project was guided by the principle “Hydrogen, made simple.”
• Presented the GUARDiON charging cabinet at Power2Drive 2026 in Munich and the Axon 4000 U dispenser at the 2026 NACS Show in Las Vegas.
• Launched the FM 27” Full Multimedia display, transforming the fuel dispenser into a branding and communications platform for customers.
• Opened a new electric charger factory in Portugal and established Neertec, its EPC business for sustainable energy, both in 2024.
• Invested €5.9 million in innovation and research between 2022 and 2024.

The brand platform was extended across every touchpoint, from trade-show activations in Stuttgart, Munich, London, Madrid and Las Vegas to product design, digital channels and the service station experience. The result, in the jury’s words, was “genuine differentiation and exceptional strategic execution.”

The Case Study

The complete case study submitted to the CHARGE Awards, documenting the Opening Mobility brand transformation, is publicly available here.