Mike Hoogveld
Co-founder nlmtd
Mike Hoogveld is a partner at nlmtd and an expert in future-proof organizing. With more than twenty years of experience as a manager and advisor across a wide range of organizations, both in the Netherlands and internationally, he is also a startup mentor, conducts academic research at Nyenrode, and teaches at various universities and business schools.
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Some ideas are so obvious that you wonder why they do not already exist. Electric cars as mobile batteries that support the energy grid sound like a no-brainer, yet it took nearly a decade to turn this idea into reality.
In the Mastering Transitions podcast, we spoke with Joost van Rooij about the People’s Power Plant, an initiative that brings mobility and energy together and marks a new step in the energy transition. His story shows what transitions are really about in practice. Not technology, but cooperation, trust, and perseverance.
From a Logical Idea to a Complex Reality
On paper, it seems simple. Electric cars have batteries that can store energy and feed it back into the grid, so why not use them that way? This is already happening in Utrecht, where shared cars function as neighborhood batteries and help reduce grid congestion. But what looks straightforward on the surface turns out to be complex behind the scenes. The project took years to move from idea to reality. What can we learn from it?
Lesson 1: In transitions, what seems simple is often complex in execution
Many people assume that technology is the biggest challenge. In this project, that proved not to be the case. The main obstacles lay elsewhere:
- Technology that must work together. Cars, charging stations, and energy networks all need to communicate safely and reliably.
- Uncertain business cases. Investments have to be made upfront, while revenues remain unclear.
- Laws and regulations. Innovations rarely fit neatly into existing frameworks.
- User behavior. People must adapt to a new logic, where a car not only charges but also feeds energy back into the grid.
Lesson 2: The biggest barriers in transitions are systemic in nature
The People’s Power Plant could only come into existence because different parties worked closely together within an ecosystem. Car manufacturers, mobility providers, technology partners, municipalities, grid operators, and users each contributed a crucial piece of the puzzle. No single party could have done it alone. What proved essential in this process was the ability to:
- reciprocate and align interests
- build trust
- respect each other’s roles
Together, these parties were able to reorganize the system rather than work against it. Crucial in this was the role of the orchestrator. In this case, the Sharing Group acted as the connector that brought everything together and made the system function as a whole.
Lesson 3: Successful transitions move from pilot to scale
A critical step in any transition is the move from experimentation to full operation. This project started with a single car, quickly expanded to 50, and is now scaling up to hundreds and eventually thousands of vehicles. That scaling is essential, because only at scale do real relevance, trust, and impact emerge.
Lesson 4: Transitions require belief before evidence exists
The project gained momentum once its activities and results became visible. Underneath that visibility lay conviction and perseverance. A clear vision is indispensable, as is a deep belief that this is the future and a willingness to keep going despite uncertainty. Or, as Joost aptly put it, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
In short, whether you are working on the energy, mobility, healthcare, or food transition, the patterns are strikingly similar:
- Start with a clear conviction
- Build an ecosystem of partners
- Accept uncertainty in the business case
- Combine vision with concrete steps
- Make progress visible
- And persevere
Transitions are learning processes in motion. Think strategically, do not wait too long, and keep moving.
Listen to the full episode
Curious about the full story behind the People’s Power Plant, including concrete examples and real-world insights? Then listen to the Mastering Transitions episode and discover how real change actually comes about.
