Yesterday, the current administration in the Netherlands announced a new fiscal package to stimulate the use and development of electric cars and the industry needed to support it. In addition to a fiscal benefit for people owning a leased car (taxation on the electric lease cars was dropped to 10% a few weeks ago) electric cars purchased by companies will now render an extra €8000 benefit. In addition, there will be no road taxes anymore and also the luxury tax that in effect for cars in the Netherlands will no longer hold for electric vehicles.
Last but not least, the government is going to set an example by converting her fleet to electric vehicles where possible.
I think this is a good move. Holland is a small country. Distances for a single trip almost never exceed the range of current electric cars available on the market and the power grid in Holland is reliable and well set up.
All these measures basically mean that quite quickly, electric cars will be within reach for the public in Holland.
Now, you might think: why is this guy who used to be working for one of the leaders in the Enterprise Java space rambling on about electric vehicles.
Well, the thing is, after I decided to take some off, I pretty quickly ran into a few guys that were thinking about setting up a new initiative in the Dutch market related to electric vehicles. After having talked with them for quite a while I decided to team up with them and start working on getting this off the ground.
There’s nothing much to tell at the moment (or at least, nothing that would interest you much), but there will definitely be a few EV-related posts on this blog from now on I think.
And, we’re doing a small bit of market research starting next week or so. Unfortunately only for Dutchies. Keep an eye out for more news.
p.s. this doesn’t mean I’m not involved with JTeam anymore by the way. For now, I’m spending time on both JTeam and on the market for electric cars.
Sounds interesting!
Alef to the public service’ rescue! Great to see you work your enthusiasm on this. But watch out, don’t get run over by one of these oh so quiet EV’s!
Ha
There was even an article in The Economist a while ago about the sound (or lack thereof) produced by EVs. It’s definitely on the radar. People are working on integrating sound generators in cars and research is being done on what the sound is people would like an EV to produce. Can’t find any sources quickly right now…
Have fun in Barca!
I don’t get it. Everybody is complaining about the noise. Granted most noise is from the tires on the road, but still.
And finally we get to the point that we can have ’silent’ cars and now people are complaining that they’re to quiet…
Well, the problem is safety… People simply don’t hear the car coming if they’re driving under 30kph. Above 30kph, the noise from the tires is enough (at least, that’s what I’ve heard), so it’s only when cars are driving slower.
And yes, I would like cars to be (almost) silent too!!
Mercedes tuner Brabus has had sound kits for electrical vehicles for a while now, e.g. see:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10263208-1.html
http://jalopnik.com/5085473/brabus-creates-first-tuner-tesla-roadster-mates-star-trek-sound-effects-to-electric-car
I saw the Tesla sound in action last year at the EMS, and its pretty cool.
Hi Alef,
that’s a very interesting idea. I wish we had that kind of investment into electric vehicles in France (we had the bonus/malus system 2 years ago, and then nothing).
Anyway, good luck on that one! I wish it’s gonna be as succesful as SpringSource.
Cheers,
Michael.