Encouraging the first sheep

Initiators of an attempt to kick-start the Dutch electric vehicle (EV) market were Urgenda, an independent organisation founded for the purpose, together with mail and express company TNT, Dutch energy company Eneco and Tendris, a sustainable business incubator and operator. Soon other parties got on board. Now some 25 companies and governmental or independent organisations have signed the letter of intent to order EVs (read the press release).

If all goes well, together they'll have almost three thousand electric cars on the road within three years – an average of 120 cars per organisation. Urgenda, however, aims for one million (!) EVs on the Dutch roads by 2020.

In the beginning
In September we reported that the consortium had announced a tender for three thousand EVs to be issued this November. We ask senior innovation officer Monique Blokpoel of Eneco how things are looking. Although the tender is delayed, there's enough to relate.

“Eneco started with two electric company cars,” says Monique, “but we're planning to have five hundred EVs within four years. That is about a quarter of our vehicle fleet. Our intention is to work towards zero CO2 emission, but we haven't got tangible plans to that effect yet.

“We distinguish three phases in the introduction:

1. 500 electric Eneco vehicles + recharging facilities at Eneco buildings and at home (for employees);
2. recharging points in the form of 'NRGSPOTS' for businesses and municipalities;
3. roll-out of NRGSPOTS on the consumer market.

We are currently working on phases one and two simultaneously.

“The scheduled five hundred EVs of phase one will be scattered all over the country, since all of our companies [Eneco also owns energy infrastructure company Joulz and network manager Stedin] are participating. However, having our centre of gravity in the Randstad area, that's where most of our EVs will be driving. That is also where air quality is worst, so where EVs can make the largest impact.”

Stage two
Monique has had it, and rightly so, with the omnipresent phrase 'hen and egg dilemma'. (Which should come first, the vehicles or the infrastructure?) “I prefer the proverb ‘if one sheep leaps over the ditch, all the rest will follow,'” she says.

With phase two of the project, the consortium means to encourage the first sheep. “We deliver a complete infrastructure of recharging points,” says Monique. “So from now on, nobody can cite a lack of those as an excuse. Now it’s up to other parties to speed up development and production of electric vehicles.”

But the first four 'NRGSPOTS', as Eneco's recharging points are called, are rarely used. “We started with the NRGSPOTS two years ago, for testing purposes. But we expect more of the next generation points, which are smaller to better blend in in public spaces,” Monique confides. “More importantly, they are more standardised: they’re using the internationally accepted Mennekes plug, and identification and payment is arranged through the use of the public transport smart card.

"When the time is right, the spots should be placed at points where waiting is not a problem, such as parkings. But as it is now, the spots are mainly good for increased awareness. There are about sixty to eighty private electric cars on the Dutch roads and the owners have already arranged for recharging points, mostly at home.”

On to the third stage
Eneco expects that in the long run consumers will become interested in electric mobility as well. Eneco will then support the trend, for instance with compact recharging facilities for home use, with built-in advanced payment system.

But if there is no hen and egg dilemma, why doesn't Eneco introduce their solution to consumers right away? That would be the 'kick' in 'kick-start'.

Monique: “The prices of electric cars are still too high for consumers. Battery prices must go down and/or companies and governments must encourage the consumer market, for instance with susidies, or enticing tax deductions for plug-in lease cars. A joint public-private coercion system is needed.”

Jungle
We ask Monique what else is necessary for electric driving to become as booming as Urgenda predicts. “Absolutely crucial are European standards for the recharging points,” she stresses. “That involves several aspects, the most important of which are plugs and sockets, payment systems and protocols. It's comparable to gasoline fuel stations: you can go to a station of any oil company with any car and fill up, irrespective of what's behind the scenes. They don’t compete on the technique used, but on service.

“Network managers have a responsibility to communicate with one another on this matter. Government advice is to create an open, transparant market, not dominated by one party. And that is exactly what Eneco wants as well,” she continues.

But wouldn't Eneco want a monopoly if they could have one? “No,” says Monique, “it is in our interest that the best of the various new technologies is chosen as a standard. We've seen in the the DVD and navigation systems' markets what happens if that choice is delayed. Mind you, that does not mean there will be one type of recharging point only, just that it won't become a jungle. Worldwide there are already several types as it is: Electromotive, Coulomb, BYD, e-laad. That's ok, as long as the consumer doesn't pay the price.”

Figuratively speaking, that is, for pay we will.