Since several years the production of electric vehicles (EV) is increasing faster than expected. With decreasing production costs these EVs become more affordable and thus more customer choose these over a normal car. But these EVs also need to be charged every once in a while. Not everyone has the luxury of charging their EV at home, mainly due to the lack of parking space in big cities.
This is definitely the case in the Netherlands. The municipalities have around 37% of the neighbourhoods covered with public charging stations, but even then the number of EVs is not proportionally related to the number of these public charging stations. Municipalities only act on this issue once EV drivers request an increase in public charging stations in their own neighbourhood, but not everyone knows this is the procedure to get it done.
Driving electric is an important step towards becoming more sustainable. It is therefore important that car drivers who are in need of a new car are encouraged to buy an EV. But the infrastructure must be available to make it attractive to drive electric. Besides it being important that renewable energy is used to charge, the first step must be made towards increasing the availability of charging stations. Since municipalities have to go through so many procedures before actions are taken, a nice initiative would be to create a platform for this to regulate charging at charging stations.
What would be your suggestion on how to solve this matter?
Jacobs, I., 2020. Laadpalentekort Neemt Toe, Veel Publieke Palen Overbelast. VerkeersNet. Available at: https://www.verkeersnet.nl/duurzaamheid/34923/laadpalentekort-neemt-toe-veel-publieke-palen-overbelast/?gdpr=accept
Hi Nicole, this is an interesting and relevant topic! I believe firms can be part of the solution as well. Currently, a lot of employees drive company cars, which are by far not all electric vehicles yet. Therefore, a lot of companies provide their employees with a fuel card. It could be a possible solution to encourage firms (by legislation or a specific incentive) to provide their employees with EVs, with the possibility to install a charging station at home in addition to public charging stations and covering all these costs. In this way it is more accessible and affordable, leading to a more sustainable world.
Thanks for this intersting piece Nicole! Infrastructure plays indeed an important part in the adoption of electric vehicles. Another person who ackknowledged that infrastructure plays a crucial role in the adoption rate of EVs is Elon Musk. Tesla is was one of the first companies to offer EVs. When they decided to expand their market they ran into the issue that there were not enough charging stations for their cars to be charged. As a solution, Tesla published all their secret documents online so comptitors could read them and use their advanced techniques to manufacture EVs as well. By doing so, Tesla shared the burden of increasing the infrastructure and on the other hand benefited from the increased demand for EVs. This example shows that we need to keep investing in infrastructure to enable consumers to drive electric.
A way to do so, in addition to the one mentioned by Sander, is by increasing the charging time per station. Whereas it might be difficult for cities to put a charging stations anywehere, they might put the quicker stations in place. In such a way more people can benefit from one station, rather than one per night. Considering Moore’s law (processing power) technology develops rapidly. Therefore, more R&D in quicker charging stations could enable this.