At a time when electric driving is being supported on all fronts, it is also clear that the possibilities for charging the car in public spaces must also grow. Preferably even proactive instead of reactive. Municipalities should therefore be prepared for this. They must have a charging point policy. A large number have thought about this, but apparently there is still work to be done in that area.
Last week a news item caught my attention. Particularly in Nieuw-Vennep (municipality of Haarlemmermeer) the poignant situation in the field of public charging stations, if we are to believe NH Nieuws. Residents of some neighborhoods have to push to get a place at a charging station (which apparently have one connection per station). They regularly have to try it a few blocks away. You would say they better request a new one. And that’s where the shoe pinches, according to the report. Policy should be made in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer. The municipality’s website does state that you cannot apply for a charging station, since the municipality is determines whether and where new charging stations will be installed on the basis of various criteria. Then look at the map of MRA-Electric who keeps track of the charging stations that are operational and planned in the region, then the new residential area of Liquenda seems to be lagging behind: a fairly modest number of charging stations have been planned there.
The policy for charging stations is therefore not always going well and that points to a problem that a municipality can struggle with. After all: the number of electric cars is increasing rapidly. In the view of many, lease cars mainly end up with people who have a driveway, and can therefore charge the car on their own land. In some places, people therefore speak of ‘Tesla neighbourhoods’: new housing estates where many homes are located with their own driveways and where the content of electric lease containers is above average. I can well imagine that a civil servant who cycles to his desk every day on his Gazelle has such an idea. And therefore assumes that things will not go so smoothly and that the demand for public charging stations will be fine. However, should such an image of an electric driver not be adjusted? And with that the policy that regulates the placement of public charging stations?
I don’t think a municipality that is reactively engaged in installing charging stations is on the right track. The lead time for the installation of a public charging station can be several months. After all: you have to look at the (expected) demand, possible connections, available parking spaces (after all: a charging station often takes away a regular parking space), options for charging plazas and the use of lampposts as charging stations. And estimate future demand. And then the installation still has to be done. In short: a proactive charging station policy is urgently needed. In a neighborhood in my hometown, for example, the infrastructure is being renovated: sewerage, pavement and the like. You would then think that charging stations would be signed in immediately. That doesn’t seem to be the case. And in new housing estates you would think that charging stations are immediately ‘taken away’. When I look at new neighborhoods such as Weespersluis in Weesp (nowadays municipality of Amsterdam) where houses are already being built, I don’t see any public charging points drawn on that same map. Zero. Or will there only be houses with their own driveway? According to the plan, terraced houses and apartments are also planned there. Those residents will appreciate a charging option for an electric car. And if not, those who come to visit will. After all, they are increasingly driving an electric car.
What also surprises me is that there are (larger) parking spaces in various municipalities, including at shopping centers, without charging points. It is precisely there that you could easily and accessible place multiple charging stations. For people who live in the center (after all, they often do not have their own driveway or an apartment with charging option) and visitors who come from further afield. This also stimulates the local economy.
Why will there be more electric cars? I certainly expect that. The aforementioned lease driver has to opt for an electric car more often now (because he or she simply does not get any other choice). And for the future there are plans to let business drivers only choose from electric cars. Then the private driver. They are encouraged by subsidies and, for example, exemption from road tax to opt for a car with a plug. Both new and second-hand. Given the speed with which the subsidy is allocated (within about six months the pot will be empty, both for new and second-hand electric cars), this also ensures a larger number of electric cars on the street. And do they only end up with people with their own driveway? I do not think so. So you already start with a backlog here.
A municipality must therefore now think about how charging electric cars should work in the future, also outside the driveways of homes. Many residents and their visitors depend on charging points along the road. The movement towards more and more electric cars has been going on for about ten years. You can no longer call that a new development. I challenge the municipalities to think more creatively when developing a policy for charging stations. Use (lamp)posts as a starting point for a charging point. Possibly with a solar panel. Plan them in larger parking lots, especially in shopping centers. And make it possible for residents to lay a cable duct through the sidewalk, so that they can also charge without a driveway in front of their home with ‘extended connection’ (without directly claiming the public parking space). Or create charging plazas with fast chargers.
Naturally. Not everyone drives electric yet. But to rule is to foresee. As a municipality, you make many people happy by actively participating in the possibility of providing the car (and motorcycle!) of the future with power. You make your own residents happy, as well as their visitors.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl