Placing new EV charging stations

An increase of electric vehicles within the city of Utrecht is changing the way public charging infrastructure is needed. It is up to municipalities to change the infrastructure to keep up with these demands.

Determining suitable locations for charging infrastructure is not always easy. Integration must be done carefully. The location must have as little impact as possible on the quality of the public space.

Haskoning worked together with the municipality of Utrecht to implement a systematic approach to determine locations for charging stations.

The challenge

Transition towards electric driving is a challenge for large municipalities

The government of Utrecht, the fourth city in the Netherlands with 360.000 inhabitants, wants to stimulate and motivate the transition to electric driving. Rule of thumb is: the non-existence of public charging infrastructure may never be a reason for drivers to decide against switching to an electric car. Possibilities for drivers to charge their car at their own driveway, are very limited within the city. That is why Utrecht wants to create a large-scale charging network across the city in 2025.

In the beginning, the municipality provided a charging point when an inhabitant requested one. This meant that every time a request was made, the municipality had to find a suited location. This process needed to be streamlined, in order to accommodate the growth and to keep the amount of work limited.

The solution

GIS-platform facilitates growth, and it saves a lot of work

Based on demographic and travel data, Haskoning Digital determined how many charging points are required in each neighbourhood. We then determined what the best location for these charging points is in the city, based on the guidelines the municipality has determined. We assessed these locations together with municipal officials and citizens. In this way we planned and designed the placement of more than 2000 charging stations.

These 2000 charging stations are not realised all at once. The amount of chargers will grow in the same pace as the amount of electric cars in the city. The usage of the current existing charge points indicates the need of charging infrastructure. When an existing charging point is occupied a lot, it indicates that new charging points are necessary. Then our GIS-map shows which new charging points are realised. The map also helps in providing the necessary legal documents needed to realise the charging infrastructure.

The result

Utrecht is ready for growth in public charging stations

Our method makes sure Utrecht has a future-proof platform to accommodate growth in the amount of electric vehicles. Despite the limited public space within the city, and the limited possibilities for drivers to charge on their own property.