Charging electric cars in Rotterdam

The Rotterdam success story 

Electric vehicles are clean, quiet, and economical. Promoting electric transport improves the air quality in and around Rotterdam, reduces CO2 emissions and noise pollution, and maintains the city’s accessibility—all factors to increase the quality of life and health of its inhabitants. Not only does an electric vehicle contribute to a cleaner environment, but its owner also benefits from tax incentives and low operating costs. Ultimately, supporting eMobility fits with the City of Rotterdam’s strategy to increase sustainable transport for everyone. 

Why is Rotterdam City going electric? 

With its Rotterdam Electric programme, the City of Rotterdam is creating the right conditions to provide the best possible support for the market and to accelerate its development. Part of this is done by providing sufficient electric vehicle (EV) charging stations throughout Rotterdam. 

The City of Rotterdam is also offering owners of electric vehicles an attractive scheme for EV charging stations. The scheme, known as “Innovative Projects and Vehicle Fleets,” actively focuses on promoting innovation and collaborating with various other municipalities, users, and the corporate world to make the most out of electric transport as an economic opportunity. With the knowledge gained from these initiatives, Rotterdam plays an active role in numerous eMobility projects, discussions, and partnerships on both a national and European level.

The role of charging infrastructure in driving mobility 

Earlier in 2016, along with 16 other municipalities, the Municipality of Rotterdam put together a comprehensive tender for adding more charging stations to the streets: an extension of up to 4,000 new charging ports for electric cars in its entire concession area, of which 1,800 in the City of Rotterdam. 

The contract for the deployment, management and operation of the stations was awarded to our partner ENGIE Services. This ambitious commitment will help Rotterdam maintain its position as one of the leading cities in electric mobility adoption. 

Focusing on improving the air quality in its metropolitan areas, Rotterdam now undergoes a series of initiatives to become a role model region of sustainable urban mobility. One of the strategies defined by Rotterdam, The Hague Metropolitan Area (MRDH), and Gouda, was to expand the available charging infrastructure to encourage the use of electric transport. 

In the past five years, approximately 1,950 public charging ports have been installed. This generated a whopping amount of 13.332.447 kWh charged in the first half of 2016, equals to approx. 7 million driven kilometers!