Dutch retailers worried about new EU electric car chargers rules

Dutch retailers' association Detailhandel Nederland is calling on the Dutch government not to be too strict when implementing new European rules on electric car charging stations, ANP reports.

The new rules oblige retailers to have a minimum number of electric car chargers on their parking lots. But the association considers this obligation "superfluous". The association asks the government to make use of the room the European Union gives member states to fulfill objects at national level in their own way.

The Dutch retailers would prefer that the government leaves this issue to the market as much as possible. They also ask that, among other things, small and medium sized businesses be exempt from the obligation.

"Let's not over-exaggerate in the implementation of the obligation to install charging stations, but focus on customization", Thomas da Silva Rosa of Detailhandel Nederland said, according to the news wire. "The purchase, installation and maintenance of multiple charging stations quickly cost tens of thousands of euros, while customers often do not stay in the store long enough to charge an electric car sufficiently."