With a growth of 89 percent, Belgium leaves all neighboring countries behind, the figures show. In Europe the average growth was 38 percent. The figures come from the European Alternative Fuels Observatory, and they were analyzed by mobility organization Touring. The fact that the number of charging stations is growing so quickly has a lot to do with the rapid greening of the company fleet. Electric drivers who live in an apartment or terraced house often rely on public infrastructure. The increasing number of electric cars means there is a high demand for charging infrastructure. The high occupancy rate makes its construction profitable.
The figures refer to public and semi-public charging stations. This concerns both fast chargers at petrol stations and slow chargers along public roads. Semi-public charging stations include installations in parking garages or supermarket car parks, which are also accessible to outsiders.
Touring has also compared the number of charging stations against the number of fully electric cars driving around per country. In Belgium there is one charging station for every 3.51 plug-in vehicles. That ratio is considerably more favorable than in Germany and France, but the Netherlands has even more charging stations in relation to the number of electric vehicles. There is one charging point for every 3.06 plug-in cars.
If you only look at the fast chargers, the ratio in our country is more favorable than in the Netherlands. There is one for every 66 fully electric cars. France does even better with one fast charger per 57 electric cars. The number of fast chargers is growing rapidly in our country. In 2022 there were still 813, last year the figure was 2,328. An increase of 186 percent. “A remarkable result that is higher than that of our neighboring countries,” notes Touring.
Especially in Flanders
A side note is that the growth in the number of charging stations is mainly a Flemish phenomenon. According to Flemish Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open VLD), Flanders has 34,000 public and semi-public charging points. That is about three quarters of the Belgian total. Next year there should be 35,000. “The significant expansion of the charging network in Flanders in recent years is proof that the policy is having an effective effect,” says Peeters.
Wallonia has five to six times fewer charging points than Flanders. This is partly due to the fact that Walloons drive a company car less often, while rapid greening is taking place there. “The charging stations follow the market,” says Touring spokesperson Joost Kaesemans. “But we also note that the Walloon government shows little motivation to change the situation. Anyone who drives electric in Belgium also wants to be able to charge across the language border. And since the ban on the sale of fuel engines applies to the whole of Europe in 2035, Wallonia will also have to develop a charging station strategy. That roadmap does not exist now. It is about the allocation of permits and budgets, but above all about political will.”
In 2022, the Flemish government issued a public tender for thousands of charging stations. This was won by the French companies TotalEnergies and Engie. The charging points will be based on the ‘pole follows car’ principle: drivers of a plug-in car can request a charging point themselves. The cities of Antwerp, Ghent and Ostend are responsible for the public charging stations on their territory.
