Onderzoeker Douwe Beerda (Universiteit van Groningen, Energie en Milieuwetenschappen) studeerde af op een beleidsadvies om elektrisch rijden in Nederland aan te moedigen. Het literatuuronderzoek (64 pagina’s) weegt de voor- en nadelen af en analyseert de knelpunten voor introductie van de elektrische auto. . Beerda constateert dat er in Nederland een potentieel is van 2 miljoen elektrische auto’s – wat hij baseert op de korte afstanden die een grote groep voertuigen aflegt.

Het is geen verrassing dat de zeer beperkte beschikbaarheid van elektrische auto's en de hoge prijzen daarbij naar voren komen. Onbekendheid met de technologie is de derde factor die de opmars bemoeilijkt

Lees na de break de aanbevelingen - of klik hier voor de pdf van het rapport.

Opvolgen:

7 Policy recommendations
Policy has two important functions; the first one is to create clarity for the actor network of electrical driving. Regulations need to be made for electric cars, infrastructure, safety issues surrounding electric driving etc. With clear policy it is easier for actors to form stable connections and so form clusters of electric driving networks. Policy of this kind is needed to make a transition from the micro level to the meso level easier.

The second function of policy is to compensate for the current disadvantages of electric driving compared with the current dominant technology. By giving support to electric mobility, electric driving can be enabled to develop so that the technology can start to gain sufficient advantages for itself without the need of policy.

Next to policy governments can also help take transition steps for a technology by starting and doing or facilitating pilot projects. In the case of electric driving local governments seem ideal candidates since electric driving has some great advantages that benefit the local municipality, like cleaner air and more silent traffic.

The biggest barrier at the moment for electric driving is the lack of available electric vehicles, caused by a lack of available battery packs that are needed for the electric car. The next important barrier is the higher price for electric vehicles. Without a solution for these very basic problems it is unlikely that the electric car can progress to a more widely used product. Therefore the main focus of policy in the current situation should be on solving these problems. The Netherlands is a relative small country and therefore it has only limited influence on the availability of electrical vehicles. Yet this does not mean that they are powerless in trying to get electric cars to the Netherlands. With this in mind the following policy advice is given.

7.1.1 National level
1) Currently the greatest problem of electric driving is the availability of electric cars. There is a need for electric cars that have honest, accurate specifications and that have good pre and after sale options available. The signal for the need for these cars should be clearly sent out to the market. Emission and usage standards of cars are decided upon on European level, just like most affairs that have to do with the aspects of cars themselves. The lack of electrical cars therefore could best be addressed on this level. The government can propose to give a European signal to the car market that there is a demand for electrical vehicles and make regulations or specific standards to stimulate the market to produce them.

2) The national government should pro actively create (and clarify) policy for electric mobility in the Netherlands. This includes policy about infrastructure, safety issues etc. This policy should be made in cooperation with the actors in the field and once established, this policy should be clearly communicated to the whole actor field to speed up the formation of actor clusters and thereby the growth of electric mobility in the Netherlands.

3) While energy companies are seen as the problem owners and most likely responsible for the electric car infrastructure, the government can play a facilitating role in discussions about standardizations of the infrastructure and so speed up this complicated process.

4) The national government should clearly communicate their ambitions with electric driving. It is important to keep in mind the symbiotic relation between electric driving and renewable energy. This can create a greater enthusiasm with the public and can help the government in reaching their aims to reduce CO2 emissions and become less dependent on fossil fuels. Producers of electric cars are most likely to deliver their first cars to countries that have stated their (green) ambitions with electric driving and which have long term policy to stimulate electric driving.

5) The Netherlands already have a good policy to stimulate electric cars; zero purchasing taxes (BPM), and zero road taxes (MRB ) make buying an electric car economically interesting in the Netherlands. It is important to assure this policy for the long term to create stability for the actors involved, and to communicate the policy to the actor field. The policy of Israel can serve as inspiration for the Netherlands; their system assures the tax income for the government while giving electric cars a great advantage. In this way their system assures the long term stimulation of electric cars. This last point is unlikely with the current policy of the Netherlands, once electric cars would become popular. In the same respect of creating long term stability, the government should clearly state how electrical cars will fit in the new way of taxation that is coming in the Netherlands with the road charge, in Dutch “kilometer heffing”. And last it would be good to know that if electric driving becomes more popular, electricity will not start to be heavily taxed, which would nullify the advantageous economic aspect that electric cars
have.

6) The national government should keep in close contact with countries like Denmark who are introducing electric driving on a large scale in combination with Project Better Place. This can provide valuable information on how well the Better Place model is working in implementing electric driving on a large scale. Next it can provide important information on how electric driving can be combined with wind energy. Denmark is a leading country in wind energy and both countries are planning to produce more electricity out of the wind. Using an electric car park as a storage place of irregularly produced wind energy seems very attractive.

7) Last, national governments can serve as a launching customer by taking up electric cars in the car fleet and help local governments setting up pilot projects.

7.1.2 Local level
1. Local governments can stimulate electric mobility by making electric driving (temporarily) locally attractive. Examples of this can include: longer delivery hours for electric delivery vans since they are both clean and silent, access to bus and taxi lanes for electric vehicles, lower or free parking fees for electrical cars, etc.

2. PR activities can be organized by local governments to stimulate electrical driving. The “Schoner vervoer Tour” is a good example that is already successfully being organized. Other ideas are free test driving areas or days with electrical cars and creating public charging spots to attract the attention of the public to electrical driving.

3. Most importantly, local government can start or facilitate pilot projects with electric mobility. Pilot projects introduce electric driving to the city and valuable experience will be gained. It is important that these projects are set up in the line of transition theory and that the experience gained is also made available to others. Starting a pilot project will give clear insight into the possibilities of electric driving at this moment and with this knowledge the future of electrical driving can more precisely be determined. When local governments are among the first parties to use electrical driving in the area, policy is likely to co-develop. Also on local level clear policy to create clarity for the involved actors is of great importance.