Brussels' regional government has implemented new measures to facilitate its plan to install an additional 250 charging stations, the equivalent of 500 charging points, for electric vehicles across the city.
To avoid the six-month waiting period between the request and the installation of these stations and to help it reach the goal of installing 11,000 points by 2035, the government adopted eight administrative simplification measures to reduce this period to two months.
Currently, there are just over 160 charging stations across the capital, each with two charging points according to reports L'Écho, and around 2,350 unique users have been counted so far, which is expected to grow as electric vehicles are winning in popularity across the country.
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New charging points can be installed at the request of companies or individuals via an online platform charge.brussels, but only if there is no electric charging point within a 250-metre radius of the location.
The government also recently passed a decree which will help facilitate the installation of charging stations in public and private car parks, and it will set the ratios of charging points for all car parks, taking into account the type of buildings and the supply of on-street parking.
It is currently looking into a solution to combat the challenges posed by the Siamy safety regulations, which prevent the installation of any electric vehicle charging point under the first basement due to the risk of fire.
Sibelga, the Brussels gas and electricity distribution network manager, will help to facilitate the rollout of these charging points, alongside Pitpoint, which until now had the exclusive rights to install them.
The installation of these stations is one of several steps taken by the government to decarbonise mobility in the region, alongside the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) which was introduced across the city in2018, and the aim to ban Euro 5 diesel and Euro 2 petrol vehicles from 2025.
Last November, the Flemish government announced it would be investing an additional €30 million to roll out rolling out an additional 30,000 public charging points for electric vehicles by 2025.
Lauren Walker
The Brussels Times
