Nearly one in four new cars in Belgium are fully electric, but where people buy them and how they are paid for varies considerably between regions.
While the car market remains fairly stable, with similar trends to last year, the national automotive federation Febiac reported a big shift towards electrification in the first half of 2024. This comes as Belgium's car market is doing very well, said Febiac's CEO Frank Van Gool.
"Belgium is doing twice as well as other countries in Europe in terms of electrification," Van Gool told VRT. "Premiums and favourable tax rates are driving sales."
Of the 64,404 new electric cars registered in Belgium in the first half of 2024, over three-quarters (77.7%) were registered in Flanders. This is partly due to the large number of leasing companies based in the region.
But the Flemish EV premium has also played a major part by allowing people buying an electric car that costs less than €40,000 to get a €5,000 premium from the government, a measure that will be in place until the end of 2024. "As a result, we see that 2.5 times more electric cars were registered in the first half of the year by private individuals than last year."
EVs for all budgets
Originally, a premium was also planned for those who purchase an electric car in 2025 or 2026, but the Flemish Government since decided that the premium would only last one year. "For private individuals, we expect electrification to slow down slightly from next year, when the premium will end."
For commercial purposes however, electric vehicles will remain very important. "We are now seeing orders from leasing companies in which 85% of vehicles are fully electric cars," Van Gool said. This trend will likely also continue next year.
Moreover, clear regional differences can be seen between the most popular car models. In Flanders and Brussels, BMW, Tesla, Volvo and Audi are preferred brands. Wallonia by contrast has the Dacia Sandero as the most popular car.
According to Van Gool, this has to do with the fact that there are also fewer company cars in Wallonia and more private registrations. "Private individuals simply choose somewhat cheaper brands."
