In order to describe the dynamics of crowded ions (charged particles), we use an energetic variational approach to derive a modified Poisson–Nernst–Planck (PNP) system which includes an extra dissipation due to the effective velocity differences between ion species. Such a system has more complicated nonlinearities than the original PNP system but with the same equilibrium states. Using Galerkin's method and Schauder's fixed-point theorem, we develop a local existence theorem of classical solutions for the modified PNP system. Different dynamics (but same equilibrium states) between the original and modified PNP systems can be represented by numerical simulations using finite element method techniques.