Mobility
Electric transport continued to advance in the Netherlands in 2020, although at a different pace than expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While total sales of cars in 2020 were lower, the share of electric cars grew. In September 2020, for example, 20.9% of the cars sold were electric vehicles.
Stedin's low-voltage grids offer sufficient capacity for the largest part of the day to provide for the charging needs of all these electric vehicles until at least 2030. However, this relies on the adoption of smart charging. The need for smart charging (see box below) in the built environment has been made transparent through simulations. If smart charging becomes the standard in the built environment, we can put off or even entirely avoid expanding the capacity of approximately 800 low-voltage grids and/or transformers. This not only brings financial benefits, it also reduces disruption and inconvenience for municipalities and citizens. In addition, customers do not need to wait for a charging point to be installed.
The expectation for 2025 and 2030 as regards the number of electric vehicles remains unchanged. The expectation is that, by 2025, 1 million electric vehicles (cars, lorries and buses) will be in use in the Netherlands, and around 2 million by 2030.
Smart Solar Charging
In Utrecht and the surrounding region, we are working on a sustainable energy system at the district level: as part of the Stedin innovation project 'Smart Solar Charging', we store locally generated solar energy in shared and other cars using a smart, dynamic fast-charging and storage system (Vehicle2Grid). The car then becomes part of the energy system. This process creates flexible storage capacity that helps reduce peaks on the electricity grid. The locally generated energy is released to the district at a later time, when the demand and price are both high. This system is also known as 'bidirectional'. In 2020, we installed 623 charging points that are suitable for this technology (2019: 177). This is unique in the world. In addition, we are applying the lessons learnt, including the technical insights, we have gained in other tenders, such as in the province of South Holland.
Growth in the number of connections for charging infrastructure in our service area
In 2020, Stedin agreed in cooperation with other grid managers on a new way of reporting the number of connections for charging infrastructure. One or more charging points can be installed behind a single connection for charging infrastructure. While we do not have the data behind the connection (the number of charging points), we do have information on the number of connections themselves.
Number of connections for low-use consumers for charging infrastructure
The number of connections for low-use consumers (kV) for charging infrastructure increased in 2020 by 1,912 (2019: 1,237). This is an increase of almost 55%.
National Agenda on the Charging Infrastructure Network
The National Agenda on the Charging Infrastructure Network lends visibility to the challenge that we face: to install 1.8 million charging points by 2030. The National Agenda focuses on a regional approach, with each Cooperation Region being required to draw up and implement a Regional Plan for Charging Infrastructure. Stedin is an important partner in drawing up the regional plans in our coverage area: the roll-out of the charging infrastructure has a major impact on our grids and implementation capacity.
The National Agenda specifically includes a passage on the roll-out of private charging infrastructure. This point follows the basic principle that unambiguous agreements need to be made on precisely how semi-public and private charging infrastructures (for instance, on business parks and in multi-storey car parks) contribute to the public charging requirement. By the end of 2020, a Regional Plan for Charging Infrastructure had been drawn up for each region, including the three regions in our coverage area. In mid-2021, municipalities will deliver their visions and installation policy.
Recharge your batteries in Zeeland
Tourism is a key part of the economy in Zeeland. Though the slogan 'Recharge your batteries in Zeeland', the Province of Zeeland and municipalities in the province are emphasising the local needs for charging points. Grid manager Enduris reviews the zoning plan maps in relation to the available grid capacity. Coordination at an early stage guarantees that expectations on all sides are realistic and facilitates cooperation between the parties to ensure that drivers, including those from other countries, of electric cars are not disappointed.
ElaadNL
Together with the other Dutch grid operators, Stedin and Enduris are affiliated organisations of ElaadNL, the knowledge and innovation centre in the field of smart charging infrastructure for electric cars in the Netherlands.
Much still needs to be done to ensure safe and easy charging for large numbers of electric vehicles. In ElaadNL's test lab, electric cars are being tested, among other things to examine the effects of charging on the stability of voltage in the grid, for example. The conversion of the grid's alternating current into direct current for the car's battery can lead to harmonic and supraharmonic distortions when charging. Poor power quality can interfere with other devices and cause them to wear out faster.
In 2020, ElaadNL took the lead in drawing up the National Agenda and its further elaboration. ElaadNL provides the specifications for tenders in various municipalities and provinces, and in doing so prevents local differences from arising. In 2020, ElaadNL extensively tested every charging point marketed in the country for quality to ensure that it can be safely installed in the Stedin, Alliander and Enexis grids. The standards and protocols that are essential for smart charging were further improved, in relation to Vehicle2Grid and cybersecurity, for example. Based on potential future scenarios, ElaadNL estimates what lies ahead, in the field of electric goods transport, for example. This enables grid managers to take this into account in their planning and investment strategies. Alongside goods transport, electric inland shipping and buses were additional areas of focus.
Cybersecurity is a further crucial aspect of a safe charging infrastructure. The large amounts of power involved in the combined charging of all those cars and the connectivity of charging points (connected to the Internet and controllable) make effective cybersecurity essential. In order to maintain the reliability of our grid, all the parties involved (such as the supplier of the charging point and the grid manager) take anti-hacking measures.
Getting closer to zero-emission bus transport
Urban and district transport policy stipulates that bus companies must have switched to zero-emission buses by 2030. At the start of 2020, approximately 770 electric buses were operating in our coverage area out of a total of 5,236 vehicles.
The number of electric buses in public transport at the end of 2020 was more than 1,300, roughly 25% of the total. The growth in the number of electric buses within Stedin's service area was modest in 2020. Rotterdam, among others, saw an increase of 50 electric buses. The expectation remains that three quarters of all the buses in public transport will be electric by 2025.
