Skip to main content

The Dutch revolution in smart EV charging

By turning itself into one huge Living Lab for Smart Charging of electric vehicles, the Netherlands aims to become the international frontrunner for smart charging EVs, using them to store peak solar and wind power production. Already 325 municipalities, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague, have joined the Dutch Living Lab Smart Charging project, representing 80 per cent of all public charging stations. It is also supported by the Dutch government and has been joined by some The New Motion
October 18, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
By turning itself into one huge Living Lab for Smart Charging of electric vehicles, the Netherlands aims to become the international frontrunner for smart charging EVs, using them to store peak solar and wind power production. Already 325 municipalities, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague, have joined the Dutch Living Lab Smart Charging project, representing 80 per cent of all public charging stations. It is also supported by the Dutch government and has been joined by some The New Motion and EV-Box EV charging companies.

The Living Lab Smart Charging is an open platform where small and large companies, universities, local and regional governments and grid operators cooperate on a three step program.

Step 1 is to make as many charging stations as possible ready for Smart Charging. An upgrade operation is now taking place across the country to ensure existing charging stations will be technically able to facilitate smart charging. All new stations are already smart charging ready.

Step 2 uses those stations for smart charging research and testing, such as the app by Jedlix which allows users to earn money by using technology to charge a car in the middle of the night when the wind is still producing power but there is little demand for the power. In Utrecht, Renault is testing 'vehicle to grid' charging, using an electric car with solar panels as storage to put power back into the grid when the sun goes down.

Step 3 puts all the innovation, tests and research findings into international standards, with the ultimate goal of all electric cars driving on solar and wind power.

Related Content

  • July 23, 2012
    Is road user charging the first stop for congestion management?
    David Hytch, Information Systems Director at the Greater Manchester Public Transport Executive, considers just where congestion pricing schemes should sit in transport planners' hierarchy of options for managing demand. On the face of it, Greater Manchester in England's proposed congestion charging scheme hit just about every sweet spot possible when it came to convincing the general public of the need for and benefits of such a venture. There was the promise from national government of almost £3bn-worth of
  • April 6, 2016
    Necessity is the mother of invention
    The Netherlands aims to lead Europe, and the world, in the area of cooperative ITS and smart mobility. That’s not an aspiration – it’s a necessity as Frans op de Beek, principal advisor for traffic management and ITS within the Rijkswaterstaat, the Ministry for Infrastructure and the Environment, explains.
  • November 27, 2013
    Extra enforcement key to cutting road casualties in The Netherlands
    While The Netherlands already has some of the safest roads in the world it has ambitious plans to make them safer still, as Jon Masters discovers. In virtually all periodical studies and comparisons of countries’ road safety performance, the Netherlands is consistently in the top three and often leads the world, depending on how casualty figures are compared. According to the International Traffic Safety Data & Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum, road deaths per capita have falle
  • March 25, 2020
    Tech giants could herald loss of MaaS policy control
    With tech giants targeting the transport sector, could local authorities lose control of their means of delivering policy?