Nearly half (48%) of Belgians are not yet ready to buy an electric car – with people in Wallonia especially hesitant, according to the Grand Baromètre survey conducted by Ipsos, Le Soir and RTL Info.
In the first nine months of 2023, fewer than 6,000 fully electric cars were sold to private customers in Belgium – less than 2% of the 374,848 vehicles registered (all types of customers and all engines combined) in the country over this period.
Walloon residents are most opposed to purchasing an electric car: 59% of those polled were against such an investment, compared with just 30% ready to make the purchase. In Flanders, 41% are ready to switch to a fully electric car, while 44% are against. 5% indicated that they had already bought an electric car.
For residents of the Brussels-Capital Region, 38% said they were ready to switch to electric, while 35% were against. Notably, 23% of those living in the capital indicated that they do not drive a car.
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For 75% of Belgians who are "not ready" to change their engine, price is by far the main obstacle. If the Belgian car fleet is going electric, it will be via company cars. The result is a top-of-the-range market, even for second-hand cars.
The Belgian automotive industry federation Febiac also pointed to a price that was "too high for many private customers," regretting the absence of "policies aimed at significantly reducing the bill."
However, more affordable electric cars alone will not change Belgians' hesitance: 45% of respondents also cited the "too polluting" aspect of batteries as an argument for not switching to internal combustion engines – even though the environmental performance of electric cars is much better than that of internal combustion engines over the entire life cycle of the vehicle.
Despite the fact that the authorities and private companies are stepping up their efforts to improve the coverage of the country, the lack of charging points (43%) and too-low battery range (39%) are still major obstacles for those opposed to electric cars.
