Zero-emission zones will create a non-level playing field for transport companies

Small transport companies who want to go electric? They’ll never succeed. But should we really want them to? That was an exciting question at a workshop on grid congestion with companies offering renewable energy.

The Dutch National Charging Infrastructure Agenda has found numerous solutions to grid congestion. But, those measures cost money and take up scarce materials and people for construction.

Small transport companies have a structural cost disadvantage

Some 80% of companies in the Dutch transportation sector have fewer than 20 employees and more than 5,000 carriers. Those SME haulers have 20% of the trucks. Smaller operators have more costs for their charging infrastructure with the high initial investment and annual costs for operating that charging infrastructure.

Power costs those small business owners 13 to 18 cents more per kWh than large business owners. That structural cost disadvantage puts you as a small business owner immediately 1:0 behind in the transportation market. Larger haulers spend a quarter to half as much per kWh. And those energy costs are a quarter of your total costs as a hauler….

Small business owners are slowing down the transition