French oil major plans 20,000 new EV charging points in Netherlands

French oil major Total announced this week it has been awarded a contract to install and operate 20,000 new public charging points across the Netherlands – Europe’s largest concession contract for electric vehicles charging.

Announced only days after a consortium involving Total was awarded the contract to build and operate an 800 MW solar plant in Qatar, the company has been awarded the contract to install and operate up to 20,000 new public charging points across three provinces in the Netherlands – North-Holland, Flevoland, and Utrecht.

The new contract – awarded by the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam Electric (MRA-Electric), a cooperation of governments aimed at stimulating electromobility in the three provinces North-Holland, Flevoland and Utrecht and the municipalities within these provinces – intends to address the growing demand for public EV charging points.

The planned EV charging network will cover a population of 3.2 million people, around 15% of the current Netherlands EV charging demand.

“We are happy to have been awarded the largest public Electric Vehicle charging contract in Europe by ‘Metropolitan Region Amsterdam Electric’,” said Alexis Vovk, President for Marketing & Services and Member of the Executive Committee at Total.

“By combining the experience and legacy of our team in the Netherlands -formally PitPoint Clean Fuels**– with the expertise of Total in EV charging and in Solar Power, we were able to present an innovative offer fitting the needs of both the MRA-Electric and the future users.

For Total, providing the Dutch EV drivers with such reliable charging infrastructure and services, powered by clean and renewable electricity, is a significant and unprecedented step toward sustainable mobility.

It is in line with our ambition to operate 150,000 charging point by Europe by 2025 and to become a major player in the electric mobility business.”

Total Netherlands – the company’s regional subsidiary – is already the main EV charging operator in the MRA-Electric region with over 4,500 public charging points already under operation and accessible to the public.

However, this new contract – the largest ever in Europe – will build on the company’s existing regional EV experience as well as its parent company’s expertise in installation, operations, and management of public EV charging networks.

The contract, especially paired so closely with a solar project award, also serves as further proof of this oil majors’ continuing commitment to clean energy technologies.

Further proof lies in Total’s commitment that 100% of the electricity supplied by Total Netherlands to the EV charging network will be sourced from renewable energy sources and produced in the Netherlands.

Total Netherlands is also promising to gradually source part of the necessary electricity from the MRA region itself, creating an opportunity where drivers can charge their electric vehicles with locally generated and sustainable electricity.

To top it all off, Total Netherlands will also use the network as an opportunity to study new solar power production opportunities in the MRA region.

Meanwhile, parent company Total will develop and implement smart charging technologies that would provide both stable grid management at times of high electricity consumption as well as efficient and sustainable charging when cost of energy is more affordable.

“Thanks to the project approach of Metropolitan Region Amsterdam Electric (MRA-E), governments and private companies, we can work together and stimulate electric transport,” added Maarten Linnenkamp, Project Manager for ‘Electric Mobility’ at the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam. “Together on the way to clean air!”