Is anyone going to light the fire? Drivers and barriers in the initiation of flexible use of charging infrastructure on major passenger transport hubs in the Netherlands

Third party use of charging infrastructure for electric buses on major passenger transport hubs offers potential to make better use of existing electricity grid capacity, especially given the current lack of grid capacity. This requires flexibility in the charging operation, which is hampered due to lacking ownership of this opportunity to share charging infrastructure. This research aims to develop understanding of the perception of drivers and barriers for stakeholder organizations (SOs) to initiate collaboration on flexible use of this infrastructure. A survey under 141 respondents was applied to collect these perceptions on the drivers and barriers, the most logical initiator and motives behind these choices. Results indicate that presence of sufficient benefits, fitting organizational culture and entrepreneurial freedom are main drivers for initiation of collaboration. No specific barriers stood out. Furthermore, public parties – specifically the transport authority – are indicated as most logical initiator. The paper shows that challenge for initiating collaboration lies in the unclarity around the mandate to take initiative. Although the presence of mandate is not seen as main driver for one’s own organization, it is seen as reason why other organizations should be the initiator. The lacking overall mandate for collaboration causes inertia, and thereby is the reason why the fire is not lit yet. Fortunately, this challenge of ownerless opportunities in complex SO-environments can be overcome, but it does require a new way of looking at how infrastructure is applied and managed.