The Netherlands has passed the milestone of 500 000 charging stations. The vast majority (384 200) are private points at home. The country is one of the forerunners in Europe regarding charging infrastructure.

For comparison, Belgium has an estimated 150 000 charging points. At the end of March, there were more than 30 000 public or semi-public charging stations, of which almost 25 000 in Flanders.

According to the Dutch National Agenda of Charging Infrastructure (Nationale Agenda Laadinfrastructuur, NAL), the Netherlands had 518 000 charging stations on its territory by the end of April. Among them are private stations, semi-public stations on the sites of offices, business parks, or supermarkets, and fast charging points along highways.

NAL feels responsible for realizing enough charging infrastructure to enable the transition to electric transport rapidly. For NAL, charging an electric car has to become as easy as charging a mobile phone; it has to be simple, intelligent, and omnipresent. However, the organization also sees challenges.

Challenges

The organization points to bottlenecks, such as the need to accelerate the pace of installation. Network congestion or the shortage of supply and demand on the electricity network are also bottlenecks for realizing a nationwide network of charging points in 2025.

NAL also points to the possible costs because electric driving had become economically less attractive than driving a fuel car during the energy crisis. To be successful, the organization states that electric driving must be financially more attractive than driving on gasoline or diesel.

Financially more attractive

“Charging a car has become two to three times more expensive since the energy crisis. The disappearance of tax incentives after 2025 and the higher vehicle tax due to the higher weight of electric cars will further deteriorate the effect. Without measures to make the electric car financially more attractive, the government’s climate goals concerning mobility could be seriously jeopardized,” concludes NAL president Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy.

The number of battery-electric cars has increased significantly in recent years, and the (semi)-public charging infrastructure is rising proportionally.

One charging point per ten electric cars

The pace of installation has also increased. In 2019, an average of 400 charging points per month were installed. An average of more than 1 000 public charging points are installed monthly. The European Union recommends member states to aim for one publicly accessible charging point (public and semi-public, including fast chargers) per ten electric vehicles.