20,000 extra electric car charging points ordered by 3 provinces

The governments of Noord-Holland, Flevoland and Utrecht are hoping to stimulate electric driving with more charging points. A total of 20 thousand new charging points will be installed in the three provinces, which put out a call for bids on the project on Monday.

"Twenty thousand new charging points are a great next step and will really help to encourage electric driving," said Utrecht provincial politician Huib van Essen. He said his province alone needs at least another four thousand charging points in the coming years.

Currently, the three provinces combine for fewer than five thousand public electric vehicle charging locations, RTL Nieuws reports. That is definitely not good enough, said Minister Stientje van Veldhoven of environment and housing. She said she wants charging an electric car to be just as easy as charging a mobile phone. 

The new charging points will be installed where there is demand for them. Residents with an electric car can request a charging point from their municipality. They will be public charging points, installed along the road.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management estimates that around two million charging points will be needed in the Netherlands by 2030, of which about a quarter will be in the public space.