Motorists are almost pushed into plug trucks. In seven years’ time, all new cars must be emission-free, but municipalities are certainly not ready for this.
There are far too few charging stations and the energy crisis has made driving on electricity very expensive. Millions of households will make the switch, but the inadequate roll-out of the public charging stations is already giving the forerunners a headache. “This is a drama, I bought a petrol car again.”
Miranda van Bekkum started the year well. On January 2, she picked up her electric car. “I drove a diesel. I am divorced, have two children; if you calculate quickly, you save 200 euros per month. And you are ready for the future,” she says. Van Bekkum was already able to request the charging station. The policy of her municipality is that there must be a public charging station within 250 meters. “But there is none, the nearest is about two kilometers away.” Request after request followed. “I now drive from charging station to charging station. I spend hours waiting in the car at a charging station. Or I have to walk for miles.” Charging at home with a long plug wire is possible, but then the family will shoot through the price ceiling with these energy prices, she says. “If I had known this, I would never have started it.”
The electric car – currently still with a subsidy, but it will probably be phased out from 2025 – must replace the old cars on petrol, diesel and LPG in order to achieve the goals of the climate agreement. Incidentally, many climate benefits are disappearing again: new models of battery cars, which are more economical but also heavier than the old versions, consume more and more energy.
Charger
Poll after poll shows that owners of the quiet cars are generally satisfied drivers. Especially if they have a charger on site. According to Dutch counts, there are 328,295 plug-in cars in our country. More than 119,000 charging stations have been installed, says the ANWB about the home and public chargers at shopping centers, office parks and fast food chains. About 4160 heavy fast chargers, which ‘fill up’ the battery after an errand and a cup of coffee, are mainly located along the highway.
Grid operators and the national government estimate that another 1.9 million battery cars will be added within eight years. That requires another 1.7 million charging points, while there is less and less space for them, especially in cities. Of the first generations of drivers, 70 percent have a charging station on their own property, often with solar panels. But many Dutch people do not have their own parking space. “A large part of the charging points will still be in the public space and must be connected to the power grid by network operators,” said a spokesman for Liander.
Provinces and municipalities are the clients and outsource the construction to government-certified installation companies, which operate at maximum capacity due to a lack of personnel. Two years ago, the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) reported with relief that ‘finally’ rules and support for local authorities came from The Hague for charging stations and cables. The plug-in car revolution, which started worldwide in 2008 thanks to lithium-ion batteries and was fueled by brands such as Tesla, was already well underway. Municipalities are struggling with ‘a lack of knowledge and capacity’, VNG noted at the time. Now, due to the enormous increase in the number of battery cars, it may take longer before users get a charging spot, the VNG said on Friday.
Permit
Motorists’ complaints are usually about the public charging stations on the street. Applying for this is free, but the granting of permits is difficult. “Especially in small towns. There is often no plan, officials are overworked and have insufficient expertise,” says Vincent Everts, departing director of the Electric Drivers Association. “Most municipalities do not yet have a good policy.”
Ferry Kroon applied for a charging station in Leiden around October 2021. “I have a disability card, I can walk a maximum of 60 meters. Parking is prohibited in my own street, so while I waited for my new car, I applied for a charging station in the street behind it. I just barely make it,” he says. “Then a place was found: at 300 meters. I never get that in his life.” Ultimately, a handicapped parking space on registration is possible, at a cost of 260 euros per year. “But then I always block a charging spot. Totally unnecessary. Anyway, the place is still not there.”
Fear
The charging station also causes heated reactions. Several plug drivers only want to respond anonymously for fear of conflict with local residents or the municipality. For example, Ben bought his electric car very optimistically in 2020. But the owners’ association in his residential block does not want a charger in the garage. “That is why I now charge expensively on the street, instead of using my own solar power in our own parking garage with self-generated solar panels on our roof,” he says. “Electric driving is now costing me more than I had calculated beforehand.”
New-build homes are more likely to have parking garages, but some owners no longer want chargers there after a number of unexplained fires in car batteries. “The association of owners thinks it is too dangerous,” says Robert from The Hague. He has to charge on the street.
Klaas van der Veer thinks driving his electric Renault is ‘fantastic’, he says. “But I do not own a parking space on my own property, so I am completely dependent on public charging stations. That’s where the disaster begins. Charging station stickers and wrong parkers are the order of the day.” Moreover, according to him, many charging stations do not work: the software blocks them. “So you are stuck in traffic for the only two charging stations. This has become a drama. I have now bought a petrol car, a hybrid without a plug.”
Dirk Verbeek ordered his plug-in car at the end of 2021 and immediately requested a charging station for the house in the Noordoostpolder. “The car was delivered in October last year. But the adjustment of my fuse box by the energy company, which was supposed to take three months, now takes eleven months. An electrician has now installed the pole.”
In rural areas it is more often a struggle, according to the reactions. Self-employed person Jolanda lives in a small village in Limburg on the border with Belgium. “There are only two charging stations available. Many Belgians also use it, so I often cannot charge my car. I can’t go to my volunteer work and my work in healthcare, I have to take a taxi.”
She asked for an extra charging station. In vain. A charging station on site is possible. “But then I have to put the car on the footpath because of the gate. Again you will not get a permit for that. An agony. I am considering driving petrol again.”
‘Struggle’
How will that work out, plug drivers ask themselves, if so many more charging stations will have to be added in the future? “It is a struggle,” says Everts of the Electric Riders Association. “It rarely goes well with a limited outdoor space if you have to apply for that permit one by one. That slows down the rollout too much. Let municipalities take an example from Zoetermeer,” he says. He shared the available space and issued a permit for every place for a charging station. Residents can apply for that place, the entire application period has already passed. “But do you think other municipalities will follow that approach? No, unfortunately,” says Everts.
Research by the VER shows that more than 45 percent of applicants have to wait seven months to a year for clarity. And then the pole is not yet in front of the door. Everts: “This has to be done much faster if we want to limit our emissions.”