Smart Charging in the Netherlands

As the Dutch electric vehicle (EV) fleet continues to expand, so will the amount of charging sessions and the overall amount of electricity required for charging these EVs increase. This expanding demand for energy will add on to the already existing strain on the grid, primarily during peak hours on workdays in the early morning and evening.

This growing energy demand requires new methods to handle the charging of EVs, to distribute the available energy in the most effective way. Therefore, a large number of ‘smart charging’ initiatives have recently been developed, whereby the charging session of the EV is based on the conditions of the energy grid. However, the term smart charging is used for a variety of smart charging techniques, often involving different optimization strategies and charging processes. For most practitioners, as well as academics, it is hard to take stock of the large range of smart charging initiatives initiated in recent years, how they differentiate from each other and how they contribute to a smarter charging infrastructure. This paper has the objective to provide an overview of smart charging initiatives in the Netherlands which focus on smart charging at a household level (private or semi-public charging point) and develops a categorization of smart charging initiatives regarding objectives, proposed measures and intended contributions. Analysis shows that smart charging either comes in the form of load shifting or energy curtailment. Depending on the form of smart charging, different optimization strategies and functionalities are added.