Electric cars at a charging station in Breda, September 19, 2023 in the Netherlands (AFP/Archives/JOHN THYS)
At a station equipped with ultra-fast terminals planted along a highway towards Amsterdam, drivers recharge their vehicles in just twenty minutes, delighted with the ease of traveling electrically across this small country which already has hundreds thousands of electric cars.
“In the Netherlands, it’s really good. But when you go outside the country, the network is much poorer,” says Jeroen Vever, a 37-year-old software developer, charging his car.
Best known for riding bicycles, the Dutch pride themselves on being the “world champions” of charging stations for electric cars, with the densest infrastructure in the European Union.
But congestion in the electricity network threatens the ambitions of developing fast charging, which requires very high electrical power and therefore heavy infrastructure.
Out of 145,000 terminals in the small territory – a third of European “public” charging points – 6,000 are fast or ultra-fast, according to 2022 figures from the European Observatory EAFO. In absolute numbers, this is exceptional for a country of this size.
But proportionally, it is behind the Baltic States or the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which have much fewer terminals but are installing proportionately more fast direct current terminals, according to the ChargeUp Europe association.
The electrification of vehicles, well launched in Europe and China, is one of the pillars of the transition towards a carbon-free world, a subject at the heart of COP28 at the end of the year. But as the case of the Netherlands illustrates, selling electric cars will have to go hand in hand with upgrading infrastructure.
Hundreds of thousands of private terminals also exist here, slower. While the country is aiming for 100% new electric cars in 2030, there will not be enough stationary chargers for all, underlines the Dutch company Fastned, in particular because not all users have a private driveway where they can charge their car. .
“It will be necessary to create more fast charging stations,” Michiel Langezaal, co-founder of Fastned, which installs fast stations along European motorways, told AFP.
– The Dutch recipe –
For now, Mr Langezaal emphasizes that there are enough fast terminals to meet demand, with 700 Dutch stations.
“It’s a lot,” notes Maarten van Biezen, administrator of the Electric Driving Association (VER), adding that fast terminals “are experiencing considerable growth”.
Electric car: terminals in EU countries (AFP/Anibal MAIZ CACERES)
Auke Hoekstra, researcher in sustainable mobility, explains that fast terminals compensate for the lack of “slow” chargers to which cars remain connected for several hours while their drivers go about their business.
“Usually, I just plug it in at home in the evening. And the next day, the car is just charged,” says Marrit Zylstra, 33.
“It’s very easy,” adds this IT consultant, who drives electric for environmental reasons, to AFP.
The Netherlands has benefited from its political tradition of consensus to develop its infrastructure, according to Mr. Hoekstra.
Standards and long-term plans have been defined with local authorities, network operators and companies, which have notably led to a single recharge card system, he explains.
The country also benefited from the absence of a large national automobile manufacturer which could have slowed down the transition, he emphasizes.
– End of tax benefits –
The country also implemented bonuses and tax benefits very early on.
“It’s a chicken and the egg story: if there is sufficient and reliable charging infrastructure, it helps people transition to sustainable mobility,” emphasizes M Langezaal.
An electric car at a charging station in Breda, September 19, 2023 in the Netherlands (AFP/JOHN THYS)
But most of the tax benefits will disappear in 2025, a “very imprudent” choice, according to Mr. van Bieze.
If 26% of new cars were electric in 2022, they still account for less than 5% of the Dutch fleet, while cars are responsible for almost 10% of Dutch greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition, the price of “electricity is increasing, we will have to pay road taxes, so we are arriving at a very different time”, worries Harry Chua, manager of a restaurant.
And driving electric doesn’t solve everything: “I was stuck in traffic for almost two hours so I’m late for work.”
His vehicle allows him to “accelerate quickly”: “and I was stopped by the police”, who gave him a warning.
© 2023 AFP
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