Up to six hundred fast charging stations will be installed in the Dutch provinces of North Holland, Flevoland and Utrecht over the next seven years. Shell Recharge, TotalEnergies and NXT 50five will install, manage and operate them.

It is the first time that municipalities in the Netherlands have conducted a joint tender for fast chargers. More than three-quarters of the 74 municipalities in the three provinces joined forces for this. The broad collaboration must ensure that the fast charging spots are well distributed. Municipalities have designated 176 locations where construction can take place quickly, as well in “strategic” locations outside built-up areas as in in shopping areas, sports centers and business parks. Currently there is only one public fast charging station in the three provinces.

At locations where there is a blockage of the energy grid, the three companies that won the tender are taking technical measures to make fast charging possible, for example with battery cabinets. The rates will vary. Charging is cheaper during off-peak hours or when a lot of solar and wind energy is generated. The price can be seen via an app and on a screen at the fast charger.

“Together we will create a high-quality and accessible basic network of public fast chargers,” says North Holland deputy Jeroen Olthof. “That is exactly what is increasingly needed with the growth of electric driving.” Olthof points out that “explosive” growth in electric driving is expected, which will be accompanied by a sharp increase in demand for fast charging points. “We are responding to this expected growth. That’s why we have not awarded the tender to just one party, but to three. In this way we spread the risk and stimulate healthy market forces.”