King opens world's first fast charging plaza for heavy construction equipment and electric trucks

And runs on the most sustainable, 100% circular asphalt in the process

On September 28, His Majesty the King officially opened the world's first fast charging plaza for heavy road and construction equipment: WattHub. This semi-public fast charging plaza was developed on its own initiative by cooperative Betuwewind, together with construction combination Mekante Diek, consisting of Dura Vermeer, Ploegam and Van Oord. The reason was the emission-free task for the dike reinforcement Tiel-Waardenburg. 

Big ambitions in emission-free building

The Tiel-Waardenburg dike reinforcement project has the ambition to work completely emission-free. To make this possible, the region needs a lot of additional charging infrastructure to charge the batteries of heavy construction equipment and the electric trucks. The WattHub charging plaza has been built on the site at Avri in Geldermalsen and has 42 smart charging poles with a charging capacity of up to 400 kW. This makes electric driving for the transport and construction sector and thus emission-free construction using locally generated solar and wind energy possible.

100% circular asphalt

With sustainability in mind, Circularpave was chosen for the WattHub site: Dura Vermeer's 100% circular asphalt mix, which includes circular bitumen from Roof2Road. "This choice alone delivers a CO₂-reduction of 25% for the sub- and intermediate layers and approximately 60% for the top layers," explained Gerben Bijker, director of Roof2Road. 

Circular bitumen

Bitumen are used all over the world and are an indispensable component in asphalt roads, dikes and roofing. But this valuable raw material for the infrastructure and construction industries is becoming increasingly scarce. It is therefore crucial that it be used sparingly and in a circular way. In the Netherlands, bitumen is used in a circular way. Roof2Road produces circular bitumen by recycling roofing materials, thus providing a high-quality circular building material for asphalt. "By using this bitumen, valuable raw materials are preserved by reusing them instead of burning them. This way, there is upcycling of asphalt roads, which also results in significant CO₂-reduction," says Gerben.

Asphalt quality desk 

Circularpave is certified with CROW's Asphalt Quality Standard. "This also applies to other sustainable asphalt mixes with circular bitumen," says Gerben, calling it a "golden" milestone for sustainable and circular asphalt. "This also allows every client to make an informed choice for Roof2Road asphalt." Currently, there is already a choice of more than 20 types of asphalt mixtures with the circular binder for municipalities and provinces. Obtaining this certificate on recycled bitumen for road construction gives an important boost to the circular economy.

CO₂-reduction in asphalt

"By using circular bitumen in asphalt, the government has the opportunity to reduce CO₂ save money and thus make a substantial contribution to achieving climate goals," Gerben concluded.