Urgenda, TNT, Eneco and Tendris launch a tender for 3000 electric vehicles in three years

Sustainable companies initiate large-scale purchasing consortium for electronic transport in order to stimulate high quality and affordable mass production. Urgenda, TNT, Eneco and Tendris launch a tender for electronic vehicles. Together with consortium partners ABN AMRO, Delta, Essent, Facilicom, the Municipality of Rotterdam, the Municipality of Leeuwarden, ING, JCDecaux, the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, NUON, Philips, Port of Rotterdam, the Province of Friesland and Triodos Bank almost 3000 cars were ordered.

For this purpose, a new independent purchasing consortium of Dutch companies and organisations has been established under the supervision of the Urgenda Foundation. The consortium’s objective is to challenge car manufacturers to manufacture electronic transport on a large scale by creating a large scale, continuous and substantial demand.

The consortium will invite leading manufacturers of electronic cars to submit bids in November and it expects delivery in 2010. Three types of vehicles will be purchased based on agreed specifications; a small and a large commercial van and a passenger car.

Peter Bakker, CEO of TNT, “TNT participates in this tender in order to be able to arrive at an accelerated general use of electronic transport, which at present is the most promising technology with which we can drastically reduce our CO2 footprint.”