The city of Rotterdam has taken further its objective of improving the air quality in the region by increasing the available charging infrastructure in order to encourage the use of electric transport.
Earlier this year, 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 points 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.
Big Data & Smart Charging
Big Data analysis is about to play a major role in the placement of these new charging points. This means that in addition to the installation of the charging points, the focus will be on an optimal use of the charging network. Smart Big Data analysis is crucial to this project, as ENGIE Services and the region of Rotterdam will closely monitor where, how, and how often EV drivers will be using these charging stations. On the basis of these analyses, the region of Rotterdam will install charging points where demand is indicated high.
The mobility project led by ENGIE Services relies on the smart charging technology and quality of EV-Box charging points. “We’ve gained extensive expertise in the last years on how to optimize the usage of the charging network by implementing smart charging technology. Cities like Rotterdam are key for us to continue learning and build an even better successful story along with ENGIE Services”, said Kristof Vereenooghe, CEO at EV-Box.
The role of EV-Box
EV-Box will provide the charging stations behind this operation to expand the availability of public charging points to 4,000 by 2018. EV-Box’ iconic LED-ring, combined with its ease of use and its extended network of 40.000 charging points worldwide, have made the call for Rotterdam’s mission. “We’re very honored to support Rotterdam and neighbor cities, together with our key partner ENGIE Services. We are excited to work together with ENGIE Services and boost electric vehicle usage in the region together.”, said Mr. Vereenooghe.
EV-Box caters to the rising number of electric drivers on the road by increasingly addressing the needs of new segments that have started installing charging points, such as businesses, hospitality and retail facilities, municipalities, as well as commercial parking garages.
While the 40,000th charging point was installed in The Netherlands, EV-Box is extensively expanding its network of charging points worldwide. In addition to the opening of its new headquarters in Amsterdam last year, EV-Box now has expanded its offices to Antwerp, Paris, London and New York.
