People who buy an electric car will no longer have to pay sales or road tax under new plans to stimulate electric motoring drawn up by transport minister Camiel Eurlings and economic affairs minister Maria van der Hoeven.

Ministers want the Netherlands to function as an international testing ground for electric transport and have agreed to put €65m into the project, Nos tv reports on Friday.
The money will also be used to stimulate companies to buy electric vehicles. According to news agency ANP, Europe’s first approved electric car – the Norwegian THINK City, costs €40,000, of which some €10,00 is due to the cost of the battery.
‘The Netherlands is extremely suitable for electric motoring because of the short distances, flat roads and good electricity provision,’ the cabinet was quoted as saying in a statement.
The cabinet has set a target of one million electric cars in the Dutch fleet within 15 years.

In April, the Volkskrant reported that the Netherlands’ electricity grid companies had agreed to set up a nationwide network of charging stations for electric cars.