Over the next four years, a maximum of 35,000 public charging points will be added in the provinces of North Holland, Flevoland, and Utrecht.
For this purpose, MRA-Electric issued a tender in 74 municipalities.
Shell Ubitricity, Vattenfall InCharge, and TotalEnergies will be responsible for installing, managing, and operating the charging stations.
The three concessionaires distinguish themselves, among other things, by their ideas about the functionality and design of the station.
“With this joint tender, we are prepared for that growth. The award goes to three companies that have also carefully studied how the new generation of charging stations should function and look,” says Jeroen Olthof, deputy of the province of North Holland.
The first posts could be on the street from mid-2024.
“The number of electric cars should continue to grow in the coming years,” explains Olthof.
Since street charging stations must be used correctly, they are installed at the request of electric drivers.
Even if the data shows that a station is occupied, additional equipment is installed nearby.
Smart charging is standard at these new public points.
This means that charging mainly takes place when the electricity grid is quieter, at times when a lot of green energy (solar or wind) is generated, and the price of electricity is low.
This happens automatically, so the electric driver doesn’t have to notice anything.
Thanks to smart charging, the session is shifted to a more favorable time: for example, from the afternoon until midnight.
The three charging point operators (CPOs) allow electric drivers to benefit from this through variable charging rates, making it cheaper for electric drivers.
The tender also anticipated network congestion.
Just like with fast chargers (which require a strong connection to the grid), network congestion also influences the stations. But the new devices are suitable for “network-conscious charging”.
Together with the CPOs, the network-conscious charging guideline was presented at the end of 2023 to resolve bottlenecks in the network.
In those places in the network where the demand for electricity is temporarily too large, the CPOs can temporarily reduce the capacity of the stations.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the new stations will take up less space and be integrated into the urban landscape. In addition, municipalities have the option to choose a specific color.
