The Netherlands has long been one of the top plug-in vehicle markets. Norway far and away wins the prize for highest market share (Tesla alone accounted for 31% of new vehicle sales in March and all fully electric vehicles combined accounted for 58.5% of sales), but the Netherlands is perhaps the country most closely following Norway’s lead.
In March, 10% of new vehicle sales were sales of fully electric cars, and the Tesla Model 3 was the top selling vehicle of any type, with nearly double the sales (deliveries/registrations) of the #2 Ford Focus (2,195 versus 1,187). In the first quarter as a whole, fully electric cars had 7.32% market share, up from 3.15% in the first quarter of 2018. It’s been a little more than a year since I was in Amsterdam. It seemed like electric vehicles, especially Teslas, were every at that time. I can’t imagine how much more that’s the case today and will be by the end of the year.
Image via Fastned on instagram
If you know the Netherlands EV scene well at all, you know that Fastned is a major player in the market. It is an EV fast charging company with a widespread network of well designed fast charging stations. I’ve visited the company headquarters twice. Both times, we talked about what would be necessary for the company to start making a profit. (Naturally, as with any company, but especially with a capital-intensive infrastructure company, much investment needs to be put in before a profitable return can be seen.) It all centered on the EV market growing and utilization of Fastned stations booming. The model seemed sound, but there was clearly risk involved and everyone knew it. Would the EV market really grow exponentially?
Alongside this early boom in Tesla Model 3 deliveries and following a gigantic surge in other EV sales at the end of 2018 that saw the Jaguar I-PACE rising to #1 in the overall passenger vehicle market (right before EV incentives changed), Fastned has seen a big spring in EV charging at its stations and, thus, company revenue. As the headline states, Fastned’s revenue tripled in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the first quarter of 2018.
Below are some more stats and highlights from Fastned.
Fastned Q1 results
💶 Revenue: €844,000 (+236%)
⚡️ Volume: 1,520 MWh (+215%)
🚕 Active customers: 22,717 (+174%)
🔌 36,713 charging sessions in March '19More milestones: https://t.co/rWe8g4kpQ4 pic.twitter.com/YhubE93Y2m
— Fastned (@Fastned) April 9, 2019
Q1 milestones:
- 36,713 charging sessions in March 2019
- Five new stations were brought online: Van der Valk Gladbeck and Melle West; Albert Heijn XL Nijmegen, Pilsting and Oudenhorst, resulting in 90 stations operational as of 31 March 2019
- The first Tesla Model 3s with CCS started to charge at Fastned, with charging speeds of up to 126 kW at the 175 kW chargers
- Fastned won a Swiss tender that allows for the construction and 30-year operation of 20 fast charging stations at Swiss motorway service areas
- Fastned won a second tender in the North East of England for 5 fast charging stations
- In March 2019, Fastned successfully raised over €10.6 million via the issue of bonds.
Congratulations to our Dutch friends. They took much risk upon themselves in order to help stimulate (and eventually profit from) the Dutch EV market, and it appears they nailed the timing and approach.
— stromerleben (@stromerleben) March 27, 2019
Image via Fastned on instagram
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