Dutch gear up for electric vehicles

From next year, anyone who purchases an electric vehicle (EV) will be exempt from road tax as part of plans drawn up by transport minister Camiel Eurlings and economic affairs minister Maria van der Hoeven. Through the action plan, the government aims to facilitate and stimulate the market by making EVs more attractive financially and logistically.

MindsinMotion.net caught up with Jean-Paul de Poorter of the ministry of transport to delve a little deeper into the strategy.

Financial incentives
Owners of EVs will not have to pay BPM (Dutch registration tax on cars and motorcycles) or road tax. A total of ten million euro's worth of grants will also be available for practical testing via tendering schemes, says Jean-Paul, and financial relief will be on offer to companies that purchase EVs, with subsidies available up to eight thousand euros.

Similarly, businesses developing EV charging infrastructure will benefit from a twenty per cent tax break. Dutch car manufacturers will also be financially incentivised to invest in the sector, although Jean-Paul says the government is yet to finalise how this will be done.

Both national and local governments will be doing their bits by electrifying their own fleets as soon as is possible.

Jean-Paul believes these initiatives will make EVs a more financially viable option for consumers and businesses and help smooth the path by breaking down potential economic and logistical barriers to the take-up of the vehicles.

Lead the way

The Netherlands isn’t alone in its new-found enthusiasm for EVs. Germany also wishes to be a market leader in electro-mobility and has ambitions to have one million electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the road by 2020. It has earmarked EUR135 million to achieve this.

In the UK, the British government has agreed to a hundred million pound, five-year stimulus package for sustainable mobility, ten million of which is earmarked to place a hundred electric vehicles in cities and villages to allow customers to become acquainted with, and practice electric driving.

But Jean-Paul is unperturbed. “Because of its flat roads, relatively small size and effective electricity distribution system, the Netherlands is particularly suited to EVs,” he says, which is why he expects the Netherlands to lead the way.

Formula E
A crack team of experts from all over the country, including prominent people from the industry, research institutions, environmentalists and consumer organisations, is to be assembled and given the task of resolving problems that may be encountered in developing the electric vehicle market in the Netherlands. This will include calling public authorities, market players and social organisations into account when they fail to deliver on promises or act on their responsibilities.

The team, the excitingly-titled Formula E team, is to be initiated officially in September 2009, so the identity of its members remains unknown. However, Jean-Paul coyly suggests the chairman will be a “robust, respected and resourceful spearhead who is able to open doors”.

One of the tasks Formula E team will be responsible for, is to advise local initiatives and ensure the activities they are engaged in to rollout electric driving are consistent across the country. The goal is to ensure a standardised charging system and prevent fragmentation into too many different types of replenishment points.

No limits
The forecast for 2020 is for there to be 200,000 electric cars on the country’s roads. However, Jean-Paul estimates one million electric cars could become a reality by around 2025. “Once the initial hurdles, uncertainties and teething troubles have been resolved and the public has been made aware of the benefits of electrification, the market can grow rapidly,” he enthuses.