Syntrus Achmea RE&F to team up with We Drive Solar: Electric car for Utrecht tenants

Syntrus Achmea Real Estate & Finance is the first major property landlord to offer tenants in Utrecht the option of driving an electric car.  A strategic collaboration with We Drive Solar was started for this purpose. This afternoon, on the occasion of the handing over of seventy new apartments on the Oudenoord, the commissioning of the first three electric cars by the Utrecht alderman Lot van Hooijdonk was celebrated. 

In the coming years, 150 to 300 shared electric cars from We Drive Solar will be made available to Syntrus Achmea RE&F tenants in the Utrecht region. The cars' batteries will be charged by solar power generated through PV panels in Utrecht. A full battery provides a range of 300 kilometres. 

"Besides sustainable and affordable housing, we also want to offer our tenants the mobility of the future", says George Dröge, Chairman of the Board, Syntrus Achmea RE&F. "That makes the homes more attractive to tenants and investors. Moreover, electric cars enhance the quality of life in the city and contribute towards reducing CO2 emissions."

Over the past few years, Syntrus Achmea RE&F has created approximately 1000 residential rental properties in Utrecht, the great majority of which have rents between €700 and €1000. The ambition is to add an additional 1000 mid-price residential rental properties in the coming years. It is precisely these affordable homes that the rapidly growing city of Utrecht greatly needs.

As of early this year, We Drive Solar offers the latest electric Renault ZOE in Utrecht with its own charging / parking space for a fixed low monthly fee. Furthermore, We Drive Solar is the battery for the neighbourhood energy system of the future: locally generated and stored. "We are overjoyed about this strategic collaboration with Syntrus Achmea RE&F," says Robin Berg of We Drive Solar. "This offers an enormous boost to sustainable mobility in the city of Utrecht."

What is special about the cars on the Oudenoord is that they are not only available for use by the tenants of the apartments, but also for other neighbourhood residents. In the coming months, Syntrus Achmea RE&F will install an additional 115 solar panels on the roof of the property on the Oudenoord for the electric cars. This will allow the tenants to drive a combined total of 160,000 kilometres.

Today, the property on the Oudenoord was handed over to Syntrus Achmea RE&F by Koopmans Bouwgroep of Enschede. Koopmans transformed the former office building into a complex containing seventy city apartments with floor spaces varying from 48 to 70 square metres. Rents vary from €825 to € 1000. At the rear of the building there are 43 parking spaces, three of which are for the We Drive Solar electric cars.