Skip to main content

Dutch electric car sales double in past year

The sale of electric cars in the Netherlands nearly doubled from 579 cars in August 2012 to 1,120 cars in August 2013, according to the Dutch vehicle registration authority VWE.
September 18, 2013 Read time: 1 min
The sale of electric cars in the Netherlands nearly doubled from 579 cars in August 2012 to 1,120 cars in August 2013, according to the Dutch vehicle registration authority VWE.

The overall increase is said to be due to rising sales of range extender vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles, largely thanks to fiscal regulations that enable companies to claim back up to 75% of the purchasing costs. However, these vehicles are often not as sustainable as expected, because drivers often choose to drive on petrol instead of on electricity, while the weight of the electric generator makes the car use more fuel.

The lower sales of cars fuelled solely by electricity are said by VWE to be due to concerns over the maximum distance the cars can travel.

Related Content

  • Concerns over increased US road fatality rate in 2012
    November 25, 2013
    Data from the US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that highway deaths increased to 33,561 in 2012, an increase of 1,082 over the figures for 2011.The official Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data reveals that the majority of the increase in deaths, some 72%, occurred in the first quarter of 2012. Most of those involved were motorcyclists and pedestrians. This newly released data marks the first increase in road related fatalities in the US
  • The new agile world of the construction equipment industry
    June 22, 2015
    while worldwide for 2015 a crystalball would be helpful, in Europe the sector has already listed specific priorities it wants to tackle, and among these are the upcoming emissions regulations (see separate story), external trade and access to foreign markets, and market surveillance.
  • Road user subscriptions will fund the road ecosystems of the future says ERF Lab
    December 14, 2018
    The highway of the future will not be a physical asset created and maintained by the construction industry … it will increasingly be seen as part of an emerging global services sector. “Every day we hear about Mobility as a Service (MaaS), but what about Roads as a Service?” says Christophe Nicodème, general director of the European Union Road Federation (ERF). “The role of the road is changing. We need to think much more carefully about planning (highway) infrastructure in terms of people’s needs. We must
  • Oregon’s electric vehicles cruise the West Coast Electric Highway
    December 3, 2014
    Many US states offer cash-back deals and tax breaks to encourage people to buy more electric vehicles. But Oregon has shunned financial incentives and opted to drive up EV sales through increasing the number of recharging stations.