The cabinet, business and the European Union are jointly investing 87 million euros in transport projects that are better for the climate. It involves 43 projects, mainly focused on charging infrastructure and machines and vehicles running on hydrogen or batteries.
A grant amount of 34.5 million euros comes from the cabinet, Stientje van Veldhoven of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management announced on Monday. The scheme, called the Demonstration Scheme for Climate Technologies and Innovations in Transport (DKTI-Transport), helps innovations that are viable get off the ground faster. Involved companies and the European Union are investing an additional 47 million and 5.9 million euros respectively.
Of the total amount, about half goes to battery-electric innovations. Just under half goes to hydrogen innovations and a small part to renewable biofuel applications. There will also be seven new hydrogen filling stations, in Roosendaal, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Dordrecht, Barneveld, Nieuwegein and Den Helder.
An independent committee reviews all applications and assesses which projects are the best put together and contribute the most to the climate. Because many good projects were submitted, Van Veldhoven decided to increase the subsidy budget by another 5 million euros this year.
Condor and Holthausen
One of the selected projects is from Rotterdam-based transport company Condor, which specialises in very heavy and large transport. Condor is using the subsidy to convert a very heavy crane truck and an equally heavy semi-trailer to transport bricks.
Owner Rokus Vlot: "There is no sustainable alternative on the market yet for these heavy crane trucks. Everyone says it's not possible to make them electric. But we are in the starting blocks and are just going to do it." A special feature of the project is that it includes mobile fast chargers. This allows the crane and stone trucks to recharge their battery while loading and unloading, giving them a long range despite their weight. The converted trucks will hit the road in 2020.
Another project comes from the Groningen company Holthausen. They will convert street sweepers so that they can run on hydrogen. By 2020, the first hydrogen-powered street sweepers will be driving around Rotterdam, Amsterdam, The Hague and Groningen.
Climate agreement in progress
The cabinet wants to halve CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. Transport is responsible for about a quarter of CO2 emissions. Agreements in the climate agreement should reduce emissions.
