Fastned opens 19th fast-charging station in Belgium

Dutch Fastned has opened last week its 19th fast-charging station in Belgium, located just outside the Antwerp Metropole on the E19 toward Brussels, at the park & ride at Exit 7 in Kontich. The station features eight 300 kW chargers for charging up to 300 km range in fifteen minutes if circumstances are favorable.

The new station in Kontich is the second to be opened of ten concessions Fastned won in a tender by the Flemish Road and Traffic Agency (Agentschap Wegen en Verkeer), with manages 7 000 km of regional roads and highways and 7 700 km of bicycle paths.

The ten new fast-charging stations are part of the BENEFIC project, a Brussels-Flemish-Dutch project to develop charging and refueling infrastructure for alternative fuels for transport.

The acronym – you would never guess – stands for ‘BrussEls NEtherlands Flanders Implementation of Clean power for transport’ and is supported by EU funding through Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

Nearly 250 stations

Belgium saw its EV car fleet grow by 37 760 units (+66%) in 2022, and expects a further boom as EVs will become mandatory in 2026 for all company cars. With eight more to be opened, Fastned will have 29 stations in Belgium, of approximately 250 in the Netherlands, Germany, France, United Kingdom, and Switzerland.

It has been a good year for the Dutch charging point operator, when talking revenue, which is mainly used for expansion. It opened up its biggest charging stations near the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and added 59 additional stations in 2022, with the network now approaching the threshold of 250. The company also has 375 other spots on the radar for further expansion.

400 kW charger

One of the first 400kW chargers in Europe was installed at Fastened’s De Watering Station (A8) in the Netherlands in a pilot partnership with EVBox. The charger can deliver up to 100 km range in just 3 minutes.

During the last quarter of 2022, the Dutch fast-charging operator witnessed a growth of almost factor three compared to the previous year. It managed revenue of 13,3 million euros, an increase of 117% compared to the year before (4,8 million euros).

The capacity of charged electricity rose to 17,9 Gigawatt hours, representing double as many customers, reaching a total of 219 000. Over the entire year, Fastned realized revenue of 36 million euros.