Wallonia needs to speed up the deployment of charge points for electric vehicles, EV Belgium, a federation working to develop the zero-emission mobility market, stressed on Wednesday.
The federation welcomed the launch of a unit tasked in particular with coordinating the expansion of the Walloon network, but pointed out that the situation is urgent.
L’Echo daily reported on Wednesday that Wallonia's government has set up the unit, which will coordinate the modernisation of the electricity network, the deployment of charging stations and the integration of photovoltaics.
EV Belgium says it welcomes this “good initiative” and is ready to take part in it. However, it insists that Wallonia needs to speed up the process since it has a great deal of catching up to do: there are some 5,000 charge points in Wallonia, compared with 28,000 in Flanders, while Brussels has 3,000.
“A lot more will be needed,” warns Romain Denayer, a coordinator at EV Belgium.
“It is estimated that there will be two million electric vehicles in Belgium by 2030, i.e. one electrified car in three, so 200,000 publicly accessible charge points will be needed throughout the country, including 70,000 in Wallonia," Denayer notes. "The development of the number of charge points will therefore have to be accelerated.”
EV Belgium says it is pleased that the Walloon coordination unit will be able to work beyond the next elections and into early 2025.
“We think it’s important that plans and installations of charge points do not wait for a new government to be appointed,” commented Romain Denayer. “We cannot afford a stalemate.”
