‘FRUSTRATING’
Around 30 per cent of Europe’s electric vehicle charging points are in the Netherlands, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
France and Germany, the EU’s biggest countries, round out the top three, each accounting for 20 per cent of the bloc.
“No other country has the same density of charging points as the Netherlands,” the Dutch government business agency RVO said.
Around half of the public or semi-public stations are in the two provinces where Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam are located, accounting for a third of the country’s population.
Most can be used just by scanning a card.
In towns, every electric car user has the right to a charging station within 200m of their home; while in the countryside motorists have their own posts, with 75 per cent of those generating electricity for them by solar power.
The standard chargers “fill up” a car overnight or in several hours. Rapid chargers such as those at motorway service stations can refill cars’ batteries in 30 minutes.
But despite everything there still aren’t enough, said Bergsma, who charges her car every four nights.
Even avoiding the evening rush hour she often has to spend 15 minutes looking for a charger, and said she now always makes sure she never empties the battery to avoid getting stuck.
“It’s frustrating,” she said, pointing to a charger blocked by a large plant box.
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