While owners of electric cars are pressing for a place at the charging station, applications for additional charging points in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer have not been processed for years. The municipality is currently working on a new policy, which means that residents will have to make do with sometimes only one charging station in the neighborhood for months.
The lack of a policy in the municipality causes frustration among residents. 27-year-old Steve from Nieuw-Vennep walks for fifteen minutes almost every day to charge his car. The pole in his street is regularly occupied.
Forced to go to gas station
He is even forced to go to a gas station, where he has to wait 45 minutes for a full battery and therefore sometimes shows up late for work. “My boss is of course not happy with that.”
He is an account manager and takes the car every day to go to work. His employer requires him to drive electrically. “During the week I empty it every day,” he explains.
“More and more people are driving electric, but the shortage of charging stations does not make it an attractive choice”
Also the The government encourages more environmentally friendly driving, so that more and more people are opting for an electric car. Nieuw-Vennep currently has about 45 public charging stations. But at the charging station in the neighborhood where Steve lives, it is usually hard to find a place. “That pole has only one connection and is often already occupied. I have to walk for at least fifteen minutes to reach the nearest next pole.”
New policy
Steve requested an extra charging station from the municipality, but that turned out not to be an option. The municipality writes on her website: “You can no longer submit a request for an (extra) public charging station. That is because the municipality is making new policy for this. This will certainly take a few months.”
In the meantime, the municipality is having 16 extra charging stations installed, four of which are in Nieuw-Vennep. They also want to convert all poles into two charging points. Instead of one car, two cars can be charged. “When this is all done, residents will have enough charging options within walking distance. People can also charge their cars at gas stations, parking garages, shopping centers or sports clubs,” the municipality says.
According to Steve, the shortage of charging stations is a major stumbling block when it comes to the switch to electric driving. “More and more people want to drive electrically, but the shortage of charging stations does not make it an attractive choice. You sometimes have a chat at such a charging station and then you also hear that people have to park further and further from home.”
Out research shows that more than a third of lease drivers experiences a shortage of available charging stations as the biggest problem. Half of them regularly have to go to another district in search of a free charging point. “The state gives orders to start driving electrically and my company also obliges me to do so. I think that’s all fine, but then I have to be able to charge my car.”
Does the municipality of Haarlemmermeer have insight into how many residents drive electrically and how many poles are needed for this? And what does the new policy mean for electric car owners? The municipality cannot and will not answer these questions, a spokesperson said. “The questions are first submitted to the Council, which will meet again sometime in mid-August.”