The number of electric cars in the Netherlands is increasing every year. More and more companies are taking the step towards a fully electric vehicle fleet. Even so, only two percent of vehicles in the Netherlands are electric and the number of plug-in cars is not increaseing quickly enough. What is going on?
In short
- The Netherlands ranks second in the world when it comes to the percentage of fully electric vehicles.
- But the total share of electric vehicles in relation to the total fleet is only 2 percent.
- And the government wants 1.9 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030.
- This requires a government that will do more to facilitate electric driving, according to Chris Heiligers of ALD Automotive.
The Netherlands currently has over 200,000 fully electric vehicles and just under 81,000 public charging points. This places the Netherlands in the top 5 worldwide when it comes to the share of electric vehicles. Norway is leading the way, and is doing (much) better than the other countries. In terms of charging infrastructure, there is no other country with the same density of charging points as the Netherlands, reports the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). You might say that is a nice starting point. But it does leave something to be desired Because in spite of this, the share of electric vehicles relative to our country's total fleet is only two percent. And that's not enough. If it is up to the current government, there should be 1.9 million electric cars on the road by 2030.
A long way to go
That means there is still a lot to do. Recent research by Statistics Netherlands (summer 2021) also shows that not many Dutch people plan to buy an electric car in the near future. "Two percent of households indicated that they had concrete plans to buy or lease a fully electric car in the next two years. Six percent say they 'might' do this," according to Statistics Netherlands. "The fact that the outgoing cabinet announced on Prinsjesdag that it would increase the addition for electric cars from twelve to sixteen percent on 1 January is coming too soon," says Chris Heiligers, EV ambassador at leasing company ALD Automotive. Heiligers helps organizations in their transition to an electric vehicle fleet, which gives him practical insight into what it takes to remove the barriers to this.
"Two percent of households indicated that they had concrete plans to buy or lease a fully electric car in the next two years" - Chris Heiligers, EV ambassador at leasing company ALD Automotive
Expensive
Regulations like these are unlikely to help the popularity of the electric car. Further, average private car buyers increasingly prefer to import a late-model used petrol car than to buy an electric car in their own country. That saves a lot of money. Although the purchase of an electric car is expensive, the total cost of ownership (TCO) is increasingly competitive with that of the 'regular' petrol car. Because of this, most new electric cars are sold as lease vehicles. But as soon as the lease contract expires, some of those cars will disappear abroad. It is not being made attractive enough for a private car buyer to buy them used. This does not help the growth in the number of electric vehicles either. A better subsidy scheme for used electric cars would help with this.
'Range anxiety' is no longer an obstacle
What needs to be done to get Dutch business drivers into plug-in cars? In any case, the commonly cited objection of the limited range, or range anxiety, is now obsolete, according to Heiligers. "That is a non-issue now," he says. "You can now easily cover three to four hundred kilometres with the average electric car. And let's face it, you rarely drive that far in one go in our country. The average distance a Dutch person travels each day is 35 kilometres."
Charging stations are a point of attention
One point of attention is the charging stations. Heiligers: "Installing charging stations on site is easy for some companies, but more complicated for others. For example, those renting commercial properties in a large city need to negotiate with the landlord and the municipality about permission to install a charging station. That is often quite an inconvenience. Stimulation by the government could offer some solace there. After all, not everyone can always charge at home. In that case, as an employee, you want to be sure you can charge your car at work."
"This requires a government that will do more to facilitate electric driving by making the Netherlands EV-ready" - Chris Heiligers, EV ambassador at leasing company ALD Automotive
And this looks like it will be an increasing problem in the future. Heiligers: "The government wants to have 1.7 million charging stations in the Netherlands by 2030. There are now 80,000. Do the maths. That is more than 200,000 per year, or just under four thousand new charging stations per week. They need to be placed somewhere in residential areas or industrial estates. This will be a huge operation and pose challenges for the power grid. This will require a government that will do more to facilitate electric driving by making the Netherlands EV-ready. This does not necessarily have to be done through all kinds of subsidies or tax benefits. It could also be done through investments in charging infrastructure and clearer regulations regarding charging and rates. This should be the government's role in the coming years: to facilitate. I'd like to call on the government to take action. We can't wait much longer if we want to achieve this in time."
Greening fleets
"75 percent of electric drivers are business drivers," says Marina van Helvoort, director of the Vereniging Elektrische Rijders [electric drivers' association]. "So there is still a lot of ground to cover here if there are only 200,000 electric drivers in our country in total. Fortunately, we see more and more initiatives being taken by employers to make their fleets greener. For example, 37 Dutch employers - united in the Anders Reizen [travelling differntly] coalition - have recently promised that their fleets will be completely fossil-free by 2025. In the coming years, these companies will introduce 23,000 passenger cars with no CO2 emissions. Anders Reizen started out as a collaboration between fifteen CEOs on the train to the UN climate summit in Paris in 2015, and is now a coalition of more than seventy large organizations representing 500,000 employees. We are also part of that. The shared ambition of Anders Reizen is to halve CO2 emissions from business travel by 2030."
"Fortunately, we see more and more initiatives being taken by employers to make their fleets greener" - Marina van Helvoort, director of the Vereniging Elektrische Rijders (VER)
Half of subsidized electric cars disappear abroad
Up to half of the subsidised 'green' lease cars disappear abroad after the lease period, TNO finds. This is because they are too expensive for Dutch used car buyers. Dirtier cars come back as imports instead. With the current tax system, the Dutch vehicle fleet is greening more slowly than intended, the research institute concludes in the white paper 'Schoon wagenpark vraagt om méér naast stekkersubsidie' [Clean vehicle fleet needs more than just a plug subsidy]. In short, TNO advocates that clean cars shouldn't immediately disappear over the border and that the import of clean cars is stimulated.
Electric powered vans
"Some of our customers have also indicated that they want a fully electric vehicle fleet next year," Heiligers adds. "An additional complication is that the supply of electrically powered vans with a reasonable range is still very limited. But that's only a matter of time." ALD Automotive has also sharpened its ambitions for its entire fleet of more than 1.7 million vehicles. Heiligers continues, "We have now declared that by 2025 at least thirty percent of all our new cars must be electric. As a result, we're already expecting average CO2 emissions per vehicle for new contracts to be at least 40 percent lower in 2025 than in 2019."
Cold feet are disappearing
Slowly but surely, it seems that people are losing their cold feet. For example, the number of electric cars in the Dutch fleet in 2019 and 2020 has doubled compared to previous years, according to the Trend Report on the Dutch Passenger Car Market 2021 of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. And slowly but surely, fables are increasingly giving way to facts. Van Helvoort says, "One such myth is that electric driving is not sustainable. That's bullshit. Batteries are getting cleaner and more efficiently using electricity. For example, Milieucentraal has calculated that an electric car emits about forty percent less CO2 over its entire life than a car with an exhaust. Even with the extra emissions required to produce the battery, the electric car is greener than a diesel or petrol car."
Hydrogen vs Electric
According to Van Helvoort, another frequently heard statement is 'I'll wait for hydrogen'. "We often hear that too. But what people don't realize is that a hydrogen car is also electrically powered. There is a lot of work involved, and very few of them are left." The idea that electric driving is too expensive is also a myth, as more and more employers are realizing, according to Van Helvoort. "Electricity is simply cheaper than petrol," she explains. "The more kilometres employees drive, the more it pays off. In addition, employers who have an electric vehicle fleet benefit from various tax schemes, such as exemption from BPM and motor vehicle tax."
"What people don't realize is that a hydrogen car is also electrically powered." - Marina van Helvoort, director of the Vereniging Elektrische Rijders (VER)
250,000 electric vehicles per year
If the Netherlands wants to achieve the government's targets when it comes to the number of electric cars in 2030, then from now on, almost 250,000 electric vehicles will have to be added every year. That will be a major challenge, and companies, in particular, will have an important part in it. Heiligers says, "The contagious nature of electric driving is also important. When employees experience how nice it is to drive an electric car, other colleagues become enthusiastic as well. And if employees want to drive electrically, employers will become more enthusiastic about it. And vice versa. Electric driving is not only green and responsible, but it also is a pleasant way to drive.
Ready to Switch on
To make it easy to switch to an electric car, possibly combined with a charging point or e-bike, ALD Automotive has a total solution; ALD Electric. This makes it easy to choose the electric mobility that suits you. ALD Electric consists of the following services:
- Electric car of every available brand and type in the Netherlands.
- A charging point at the lease driver's home in the driveway or at your office. The complete charging package consists of the charging point, accessories, installation, hosting, management, maintenance and charging key.
- An e-bike or speed pedelec as a healthy and emission-free alternative for short journeys. This also avoids traffic jams and possible parking problems.
- Charging card Or a combination charge-fuel card to activate a private charge point, charge the car at public charge points, or refuel.
- Additional mobility services include a holiday car for longer distances or an ALD Mobility Card.