Fastned

Fastned is a Dutch company that owns and operates a network of over 100 EV charging stations in the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom. A large majority of its stations are located at Dutch highway rest areas. Fastned was founded in 2012.

Fastned
Besloten vennootschap
Traded as
ISINNL0013654809
NL0010732244
IndustryEV charging
FoundedFebruary 2012 (2012-02)
Founder
  • Michiel Langezaal
  • Bart Lubbers
Headquarters
Amsterdam
,
Netherlands
Number of locations
  • 114 stations
  • 6 offices
 (2019)
Areas served
  • Netherlands
  • Germany
  • United Kingdom
Key people
  • Michiel Langezaal (CEO)
  • Niels Korthals Altes (CCO)
  • Victor van Dijk (CFO)
Revenue €6.4 million (2019)
−€9.3 million (2019)
−€12.0 million (2019)
Total assets €57.6 million (2019)
Total equity –€7.5 million (2019)
Owner
  • Bart Lubbers (51%)
  • Michiel Langezaal (30%)
  • Breesaap (8%)
Number of employees
47 (2019)
Websitefastnedcharging.com
Footnotes / references
[1][2][3]

The company, a besloten vennootschap, is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and Nxchange. 11% of the company can be traded, while the remaining shares are owned by co-founders Bart Lubbers (51%) and Michiel Langezaal (30%) and by investment firm Breesaap (8%).[3][4] Fastned's headquarters are located in Amsterdam, and its CEO is Langezaal.[1]

History
Former Fastned logo (until 2019)

Fundraising and first stations

Fastned B.V. was founded in February 2012 by Michiel Langezaal and Bart Lubbers, the son of former Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers.[2][5] The company received a permit that same year to build and operate charging stations at 201 rest areas in the Netherlands for a period of fifteen years.[6] The first four locations opened in November 2013, the first of which was located at rest area Palmpol in Terschuur, Gelderland.[7][8]

Building a single charging station required about €200,000.[9] That money came from a number of funds owned by wealthy families, one of which was the Lubbers family fund called "Breesaap", that loaned €10 million.[5][10] That loan was later converted to shares.[11] Besides, the company started issuing stock certificates on NPEX, a stock exchange aimed at SMEs, in July 2014, raising €3.2 million in one and a half years.[12][13]

The fiftieth charging station near Goes was opened by former Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende in January 2016.[14] Due to the low proportion of electric vehicles in the Netherlands at the time, most charging stations were used between two and four times per day according to Fastned.[15] In April, Fastned became the first company to be listed on Nxchange when it raised €3 million in five weeks through the issue of stock certificates.[16] The company also issued bonds with a total face value of €22 million in 2016 and 2017.[17][18][19]

Further expansion

In 2018, the usage of Fastned's charging stations had slowly increased to an average of five to six customers daily. According to Langezaal, nearly one third of the stations were breaking even, having between 15 and 20 customers per day.[5] The company's first foreign charging station was opened in June 2018 close to Limburg an der Lahn in Germany.[20] Fastned also started constructing some smaller locations at Albert Heijn supermarkets and reached the mark of 100 charging stations in June 2019.[21][22]

The company started being listed on Euronext Amsterdam on June 21, 2019, one week later than planned, making it possible for investors to convert their Nxchange stock certificates to Euronext certificates.[23] The price rose form €11 to €53 on its first day, but returned to a price slightly above the initial price in the following days.[24] Fastned had also planned an IPO that day in order to raise between €27 million and €30 million by issuing at most three million stock certificates. However, it was blown off the day before.[25] Co-founder Bart Lubbers had left the management board one month earlier to become chairman of the supervisory board.[1]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Fastned experienced negative effects; its sales declined by 70% from February to March.[26]

Network
New design charging station at rest area De Wâlden along the A7 motorway

Fastned's network consists of about 120 EV charging stations, of which all but 17 are located in the Netherlands. The lion's share of Dutch charging stations are located at highway rest areas. Three are located at Albert Heijn supermarkets, and some more are situated in cities. The charging stations outside the Netherlands are in Germany (16) and the United Kingdom (1). Four German locations are at hotels of Van der Valk, while the remaining are close to highways. The only British location is in Sunderland, but the company has won a tender to expand to London.[27][28] Fastned's stations were used a total of 174,000 times during the last quarter of 2019 by 43,000 different customers.[1] The company has plans to expand to Belgium, France, and Switzerland.[1] In that last country, Fastned has won a tender to build twenty charging stations.[29]

The earlier charging stations are characterized by two yellow arches with a curved roof, consisting of solar panels, in between.[14] The company introduced a new station design in 2016 with a higher roof in order to accommodate electric trucks. Additionally, it was better suited to an increase in the number of individual charging points at a station.[5] The roof is still composed of solar panels, but they are see-through in the new design.[30]

Finances

Fastned's revenue had been close to zero during its initial years due to a low number of customers. In recent years, it has increased to €6.4 million (2019).[1] The company has never turned a profit due to its continuing expansion.

Year Revenue
in mil. EUR		 Net income
in mil. EUR		 Total assets
in mil. EUR		 Employees
2012[7] 0.00 –0.3 0.2 2
2013[7] 0.00 –0.8 3.0 14
2014[31] 0.01 –2.2 7.6 19
2015[32] 0.1 –4.0 16.7 24
2016[33] 0.3 –5.1 18.6 21
2017[34] 0.6 –5.0 33.0 24
2018[35] 1.6 –6.5 40.7 40
2019[1] 6.4 –12.0 57.6 47

Lawsuits

Fastned has been involved in a number of lawsuits concerning permits to operate at rest areas.

Initial permit

A number of gas station operators sued the Dutch government in 2013 after Fastned had received its permit to operate charging stations at rest areas. They claimed Fastned should not have been given the permit, as existent gas stations at rest areas had been given the exclusive right to sell fuel at those places. A judge upheld Fastned's permit in July 2013 stating that the agreement between the government and the gas stations only concerns fossil fuels.[36]

Amenities at charging stations

When Fastned wanted to add toilets and convenience stores at some of their locations, Rijkswaterstaat, the owner of the land of rest areas, did not grant the necessary permits. The government agency considered it inappropriate and unsafe to have some amenities twice at a single rest area.[37] Fastned subsequently went to court in 2017 and won the case, as the judge found that Rijkswaterstaat provided insufficient support for its claim.[38] Rijkswaterstaat appealed the decision, but lost again in 2019 at the Council of State, forcing the agency to grant a permit or to come up with better reasons for another denial.[39]

Royal Dutch Shell

After Royal Dutch Shell announced in 2017 it would place charging stations at some of its locations, Fastned filed a number of lawsuits trying to prevent this in December. Some of those charging stations were to be located at rest areas already having a Fastned location.[40] Fastned did not manage to prevent the placement through the cases, in which it raised safety concerns and argued Shell could not sell electricity with its permit to sell fuel.[38][40]

References
  1. "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). Fastned. March 31, 2020. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  2. "Fastned BV". Drimble (in Dutch). Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  3. Braaksma, Jan; Brinker, Gijs den (April 23, 2019). "Fastned heeft tientallen miljoenen per jaar nodig van beleggers". Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  4. Dobber, Joost (June 26, 2019). "Euronext heeft geleerd van de beursgang van Fastned". Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  5. Voermans, Ton (April 12, 2018). "Laadpaal-oorlog om de elektrische rijders is ontbrand". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  6. Bremmer, David (January 24, 2018). "Laadpalenoorlog ontbrandt langs Nederlandse snelwegen". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  7. "Annual report 2013" (PDF). Fastned. March 21, 2014. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  8. Pit, Henrico (November 27, 2013). "Eerste snellaadstation langs de snelweg". Omroep Gelderland (in Dutch). Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  9. Koot, Jeroen (May 19, 2015). "Fastned biedt investeerders gratis opladen auto". Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  10. "Laadpaalexploitant Fastned trekt geld aan om kosten tot 2019 te dekken". Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). January 11, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  11. "Investeerder in Fastned zet lening om in aandelen". Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). June 29, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  12. Smit, Mathijs (May 21, 2015). "Verkoop certificaten Fastned valt tegen". RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  13. Smit, Mathijs (March 15, 2016). "Verkoop certificaten Fastned blijft tegenvallen". RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  14. "Balkenende opent bij Goes het vijftigste Fastnedstation". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). January 20, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  15. Voermans, Ton (February 6, 2016). "De stress van de elektrische auto: haal ik de laadpaal?". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  16. Grol, Carel (May 23, 2016). "Fastned haalt € 3 mln op met emissie alternatieve beurs". Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  17. "Fastned trekt weer vers kapitaal aan voor snellaadstations". Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). December 5, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  18. "Fastned haalt € 7,7 mln op met vijfjaarslening". Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). June 7, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  19. Rodenburg, Sjors (December 7, 2017). "Fastned haalt 12 miljoen op voor uitbreiding snellaadnetwerk". RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  20. Kouwenhoven, Erik (June 23, 2018). "Fastned opent eerste snellaadstation in Duitsland". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  21. Harthoorn, Jasper (December 6, 2018). "Snellaadstation bij Albert Heijn XL in Tilburg officieel geopend". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  22. "Fastned opent honderdste snellaadstation". De Telegraaf (in Dutch). June 13, 2019. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  23. "Fastned wil 30 miljoen ophalen met beursgang". RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). June 12, 2019. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  24. Groot, Natasja de (June 24, 2019). "Beleggersclub zet vraagtekens bij koersexplosie Fastned". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  25. "Fastned blaast ophalen nieuw kapitaal af". Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). June 20, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  26. "Fastned ziet stroomafzet met 70% afnemen door coronacrisis". Het Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch). March 31, 2020. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  27. "Locations". Fastned. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  28. Vaughan, Adam (April 26, 2017). "TfL to spend £18m on preparing London for new electric black cabs". The Guardian. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  29. Bremmer, David; Voermans, Ton (June 12, 2019). "Veel potentie, nog nooit winst: durven beleggers in Fastned te stappen?". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  30. Bas, John (April 8, 2019). "Deze 'paraplu's' komen langs de A58". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  31. "Annual report 2014" (PDF). Fastned. March 25, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  32. "Annual report 2015" (PDF). Fastned. March 9, 2016. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  33. "Annual report 2016" (PDF). Fastned. March 9, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  34. "Annual Report 2017" (PDF). Fastned. April 30, 2018. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  35. "Annual Report 2018" (PDF). Fastned. April 2, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  36. "Pomphouders verliezen zaak over laadpalen elektrische auto's". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). July 25, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  37. Ommen, Jan van (September 5, 2018). "Rijkswaterstaat wil geen kiosk en wc's bij snellaadstation Velder". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  38. "Fastned sleept staat voor de rechter om laadstations Shell". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). December 3, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  39. "Rijkswaterstaat weigerde onterecht vergunning voor toilet bij Fastned". RTL Z (in Dutch). January 23, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  40. Peet, Annick van der (December 28, 2017). "Fastned vangt weer bot bij rechter in laadstationzaak tegen Shell". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved April 12, 2010.
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