In recent years we have become accustomed to thinking of electric cars as the most immediate response to urban pollution. The unresolved issue, however, always remains the same: where does the electricity with which we recharge it really come from? In many European countries, wind is becoming a significant part of this response, to the point of becoming the unexpected protagonist of the mobility of the future.
At first glance it may seem like a poetic image, almost an exaggeration. And yet the wind from the North Sea is already a concrete source of energy, capable of powering homes, industries and even the charging stations where we charge our cars. It all starts with the giant offshore wind farms that stretch for kilometers across Danish, German and Dutch waters. From there the electricity travels through undersea cables and interconnected networks that connect multiple European countries, carrying a surprising amount of renewable energy.
For those who drive an electric car, the experience remains the same: you plug in the cable, you wait, you drive off again. But behind that daily gesture there is an invisible system that brings the energy that, a few hours earlier, was generated by the wind in the middle of the sea to the column. It is a complex network, which makes possible what until a few years ago seemed like a utopian idea: moving thanks to a natural source that leaves no trace of smog behind.
In countries like Denmark, almost half of the energy used to charge cars comes from wind turbines. Several European companies have already certified that part of their stations run on 100% renewable energy. Meanwhile, the wind industry aims to expand beyond 1,300 GW in the coming decades, a huge goal that could truly transform the way we move.
The Dutch study that predicted everything
Long before electric mobility became part of our everyday life, a group of Dutch researchers asked a question that today seems almost like a premonition: what happens if a country simultaneously increases the share of wind energy and the number of electric cars?
The work, published on Energyshowed a surprising result for the time: the Netherlands in 2020 could manage 10 GW of wind power and one million electric cars without collapsing, as long as the cars were recharged at times of lower demand, when the wind produces more energy than necessary.
It is clear that there are also limitations and obstacles. The network must withstand the variability of windless days, maintenance is delicate and intelligent charging systems capable of modulating consumption are needed. Solutions are slowly spreading that allow cars to store renewable energy and return it to the grid when needed, like a sort of mobile battery that communicates with the electricity system.
The point is simple: the more energy comes from the wind, the cleaner electric mobility truly becomes. And the underlying question, the one that many countries are asking themselves, is whether a similar model can also work elsewhere, in contexts with less infrastructure or less interconnected networks. In theory yes, as long as we invest in a shared vision of energy as a collective resource.
