OPZuid subsidy awarded for StreetPlug

OPZuid subsidy awarded for StreetPlug

A large proportion of electric vehicles depend on charging points in the public space for charging. According to current forecasts, 1.8 million charging points will be needed in the Netherlands by 2030, 30% of which will be in public spaces. This is a tenfold increase compared to the current number of charging points.

In residential areas, especially in city centres, the pressure on public space is significant. The visual quality of the public space must not be affected by the desired number of charging points. Certainly not when the public space is of historical value. This puts pressure on support for placement of more charging infrastructure. Governments are struggling with this and are working on placement guidelines and design frameworks. Not being able to achieve the desired growth in the number of charging points is a brake on the adoption of electric driving, which will put pressure on the 2030 ambition. A request from the Municipality of Venlo, arising from the tensions described above, was the motivation for StreetPlug to develop a solution to be able to provide electric drivers with the charging needs in the public space and to preserve the spatial quality in the city as much as possible. This market demand has resulted in an innovative non-visible, underground charging facility.

The overall goal of this OPZuid project is to increase the adoption of electric driving. With the phasing out of the tax benefits for electric vehicles, adoption is mainly determined by non-financial matters, including the availability of or familiarity with charging infrastructure. Municipalities have their responsibility in achieving this charging infrastructure, but they must also prevent obstacles in the public space and monitor their visual quality. Charging points will also require an increasing level of intelligence in the future to prevent capacity problems, to increase availability, to calculate electricity costs dynamically and flexibly, or to predict charging behaviour, for example.

StreetPlug recently received a subsidy from OP Zuid for the “StreetPlug: Invisibly present” project. The project will run from 1 September 2019 till 31 December 2021.

The project focuses on the smart roll-out of the StreetPlug by increasing knowledge about the benefits of a smart, underground charging point with a number of demonstration projects and adding a number of innovative features, so that it is considered a serious alternative to above-ground charging points or charging stations. The project is preparing a large-scale rollout of underground charging points.

The 'Streetplug: Invisibly Present' project is made possible in part by the European Regional Development Fund of the province of Zeeland in the context of OPZuid.