Electric vehicles in the Netherlands - statistics & facts
Commercial vehicles are increasingly electric
Alongside electric passenger cars, the number of commercial electric vehicles on Dutch roads has also been increasing. Yet, electric vehicles currently only make up a small fraction of the Dutch commercial vehicle fleet. Particularly among large commercial vehicles heavier than 3.5 tons, those with electric propulsion make up less than one percent of the fleet. The Dutch government is trying to encourage the uptake of electric and hydrogen trucks for commercial use by offering a subsidy that targets the current price difference between diesel and alternative fuel trucks. Since 2022, companies have been able to claim back between 40 and 60 percent of the price difference between a diesel and an electric or hydrogen truck.Meanwhile, the market for light commercial vehicles is much more developed. While manufacturers have struggled to find solutions for powering heavy goods vehicles with electricity, the lower weight of commercial vans has meant that electric models have been available for longer, and a wider range of models are available. Nonetheless, electric models only make up 1.4 percent of the commercial van fleet in the Netherlands. The most popular options for fully electric vans are the Renault Kangoo and the Nissan E-NV200. The Ford Transit is the only commercial plug-in-hybrid electric van registered in significant numbers in the Netherlands.
Zero emission mobility in Amsterdam
While the Netherlands, in line with other EU member states, will ban the sale of new combustion engine cars from 2035, the city of Amsterdam plans to go a step further: As part of its clean air strategy, it plans to only allow zero-emission transport into the city center as of 2030. The ban will include any vehicle operating on Amsterdam's roads and waterways, including cars, commercial vehicles, buses, ferries, and other boats. The intended timescale for a shift to zero-emission vehicles is even shorter for many of these vehicles. Buses, taxis, commercial vehicles, scooters, mopeds, and ferries with combustion engines are to be banned starting in 2025.The region around Amsterdam has one of the densest charging infrastructure networks in the country, and the province North Holland, of which Amsterdam is a part, had the third highest number of fully electric passenger cars among all provinces in 2021. However, a fleet of around 27,500 battery-electric passenger cars in a population of nearly three million people in North Holland indicates that a substantial shift towards electric mobility will be necessary for the coming years if the targets are to be met. Forecasts are showing that this shift is already underway. Battery electric vehicle sales in the Netherlands are predicted to grow significantly in the coming years, reaching a sales volume of over 13,300 in 2027.