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Enexis Group (via its subsidiary Enpuls) and the Province of Noord-Brabant signed an agreement to accelerate the transition to electric transport in Brabant. It’s about cars, buses and trucks.

Brabant is already one of the frontrunners in electric driving, according to the province in an explanatory statement. In 2017, 1,000 loading stations in Noord-Brabant were put out to tender. “Market parties are seeing more and more opportunities for electric transport and the associated services in Brabant. Almost a quarter of the Dutch public charging stations are located in Brabant. Following the example of the electric bus fleet in south-eastern Brabant, which is one of the largest in Europe, the province of Brabant is working with several cities on the switchover to bus transport without emissions.”

The main target groups for electric transport are private motorists, lease drivers, users of shared cars and fleet managers. According to the province, much is still unknown about electric driving and there are false images about the charging, range and total cost of use. “By means of targeted communication campaigns, the province and Enpuls want to pull potential riders across the line. We want to set a good example by electrification of our own vehicle fleet as much as possible and several municipalities are already taking major steps in this direction, such as Uden and Breda.”

Commissioner Anne-Marie Spierings (Energy) sees many advantages in electric transport: “By speeding up the introduction of electric driving, air quality certainly improves in the inner cities as well. We also save energy. And for the passengers, electric driving means no more shifting gears and less noise and therefore more comfort.” Henk Visser, director of Enpuls, wants to use this plan to accelerate his business as well. “Customer perspective, network management, and spatial planning are coming together. We now learn what is needed to facilitate sustainable mobility on a large scale.”

Enpuls and the province also want to stimulate the charging of electric cars with sustainably generated energy. Together with municipalities, the process of applying for a public charging station for installation will also be shortened. The goal is to have this done within a week.

The province and Enpuls are also committed to emission-free freight and bus transport. Electric freight traffic is still in its infancy. The province wants to set up a pilot project with market parties for 50 trucks. In addition, the province is also investigating with municipalities the possibility of a new type of loading and unloading points where heavy goods traffic transfers its distribution to light electric lorries for the last kilometres in the city.