Rotterdam orders 1000+ charging stations in car parks

Eneco eMobility has secured a major order from Rotterdam as part of a Europe-wide tender. The port city has commissioned the Dutch charging provider to install up to 1,250 charging stations for electric cars in the city’s car parks and parking sites over the next four years.

The city of Rotterdam and Eneco eMobility also agreed on the operation, management and maintenance of the charging stations. The EV charging network in Rotterdam already includes around 2,000 public stations with Eneco now adding at least a thousand more.

The second-largest city in the Netherlands wants to have its entire municipal vehicle fleet electrified by 2030.

Besides, electric and hybrid buses have arrived or are en route to the port town as well. VDL for example received an order over 55 electric buses. More so, Rotterdam soon followed up on the order and is expecting 143 Citea buses including 103 hybrid models to go into service for RET.

Overall, the Netherlands wants to halt sales of diesel buses from 2025 and aim for zero-emission public transport by 2030. Operators have been getting ready, and RET makes no exception. They plan to decarbonise the fleet gradually and to add more and more electric buses.

Back to private drivers – Rotterdam has designated ecozones, much like the congestion charge zone in London. So far they appear voluntary, but companies like BMW enable notification through geofencing, asking hybrid drivers to switch to electric mode. The city has banned trucks and diesel cars from before 2001 from entering the environmental zone as well as petrol cars from before 1 July 1992.

Eneco eMobility is part of the Dutch utility Eneco.

PI via email