199 new charging points for electric cars every week. The Netherlands should install that many before 2030 to achieve the European climate targets. That calculated McKinsey consultancy on behalf of ACEA, the club of Europe’s largest car manufacturers.
Across Europe, this would be 14,000 charging points per week – seven times as many as the 2,000 currently installed weekly. At that higher rate, the number of European charging points required by 2030 will amount to 6.8 million – 577,000 of which will be in the Netherlands. Getting the charging station infrastructure in Europe to the right level, estimates the consultancy, costs 8 billion euros per year.
The pace at which charging stations are being installed in Europe is not keeping up with electric car sales, McKinsey said. Sales increased tenfold over the past five years, but only two and a half times as many public charging points were added.
The urgency for more poles is therefore definitely there, says charging station researcher Rick Wolbertus, affiliated with the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. But there is no reason to panic: “The Netherlands is a kind of charging station mecca in Europe. We have a large network of poles throughout the country.”
The car manufacturers that had McKinsey do the analysis are now urging all EU countries to make haste with those piles.
“It is clear that charging stations need to be added in Europe, and this is happening faster than at present. But that call will certainly also be part of the lobby to the European Commission, which will2standard for the automotive industry. This will be tightened up in the coming years and the industry prefers not to have too strict standards. Fossil fuel cars require more frequent and more maintenance, so more can be earned from them than from electric cars. The fact that the infrastructure is not in order and that we cannot yet fully switch to electric driving is not a bad thing for automakers. But it differs per manufacturer, you know: Volkswagen, for example, recognizes that the transition is necessary.”
The Netherlands leads the way – which countries are lagging behind?
“France, Spain and Italy are about five years behind the Netherlands. Those countries still have a lot of work to do. It is not surprising that there are fewer charging stations there; there are fewer electric drivers. In order to meet the European targets, another transformation is needed. In Eastern Europe, by the way, even less happens – I would not like to drive an electric car to Hungary. That will be quite a challenge.”
The fact that the Netherlands is the European ‘frontrunner’ in Europe with public charging stations is because people park relatively little in their own driveway, says Wolbertus. That is why most charging stations are on the street, available to everyone. This way you automatically get a large network. “In addition, compared to other European countries, there are many electric drivers here.”
The Netherlands is a kind of charging station Walhalla
However, there are also too few charging stations here.
“Correct. My estimation is that the shortage is slightly smaller than what is now being mentioned. If you place more poles, you get a network effect: they are used more efficiently. If someone in the neighborhood buys an electric car for which the municipality installs a charging station, others can also use it. Those who live just around the corner can get their own pole again. If more electric drivers come, they can use the poles that are already there [één paal biedt vaak twee laadpunten]† This way, three, four, five people in your neighborhood can use the same pole. The closer that infrastructure is, the better the charging stations are used.
“In addition, we are getting bigger and bigger batteries. This allows electric cars to drive further without charging. Look at cars from about ten years ago: they have to charge twice as often as new ones.”
Nevertheless, Wolbertus calls it “a challenge” to have enough charging points in the Netherlands before 2030. He sees two pain points. For example, the question is whether the electricity network can cope with the increase in electric transport. Liander, one of the network operators, is already investing 3.5 billion euros in expansion over the next three years. Wolbertus: “You can see that we are reaching the limits.”
The second problem is the shortage of technical personnel. “Many hands are needed in the charging station industry. There is a great need, in particular, for electrical engineers who make the posts and connect them to the street.”
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Where is the solution?
“In the concept of smart charging, I think. Now we all charge at the same time, when we get home from work. Then you get a high peak in electricity demand. And then that car often stays on the pole until the next morning. It is then more useful to load at a later time. You can instruct smart poles not to charge during peak hours, but for example between midnight and six in the morning. At night, the occupancy at charging stations is highest, while hardly any charging takes place.”
In practice, according to Wolbertus, smart charging turns out to be quite difficult. Poles in the public space have to do with very different electric cars. It requires quite a bit of complex software to load them all in the most efficient way.
Wolbertus: „We are now working on the project in Amsterdam Flexpower, in which we investigate whether the charging speed of electric cars can be matched to the available energy. If the network has little space, it will load more slowly. The preliminary results show that you can connect two to three times as many charging stations to the same network.”
Long on a pole, without a fine for sticking a charging pole?
“You want to avoid sticking to a charging station – especially as a grid operator. They want to use as much power as possible. But there is a tension with smart charging: you want to stand at the pole as long as possible in order to be able to charge at favorable times and relieve the power grid. Now we have to see whether it is possible to express in euros whether it is financially attractive for network operators.”