Belgian officials will only drive electric from 2024

The Belgian federal authorities will only buy or lease electric service vehicles from July 2024. The Council of Ministers has approved a plan by Minister of Civil Service Petra De Sutter (Groen) to this effect. One consequence of the measure is that by 2030 most service vehicles within the federal government will drive sustainably.

The obligation applies to all government departments, but also to the cars of the 15 federal ministers, the five state secretaries, and those of their cabinets.

Today, the federal government’s fleet has 920 vehicles. This does not include cars belonging to the police or defense. They are mainly service cars used for specific missions, such as customs or social inspection. There are also some staff cars, although these are exceptions and are limited to management positions. Out of 65 000 civil servants, only 170 drive such a car.

The decision is part of the ambition to make Belgium climate-neutral by 2050. Europe already decided that only sustainable cars would be sold within seven years. To make it all happen step by step, the new federal service cars will already become sustainable from mid-2024 – on average, officials drive a service car for about eight years.

Flanders is also making the switch

Flemish minister’s next official cars will also all be electric. Flemish Minister-President Jan Gambon (N-VA) said so in parliament at the end of January. Currently, only two Flemish ministers drive fully electric: Benjamin Dalle and Bart Somers. The rest of their colleagues drive a plug-in hybrid, but the switch will be made when the current leasing contracts expire.

In general, from 2025, the Flemish Government will only purchase or lease fully electric passenger cars. Vans will follow two years later. This is stated in the Mobility Action Plan 2.0, approved by the Flemish government.

The Walloon Public Service has a fleet of around 3 000 vehicles. It is not clear how many of these are electric or when they should become electric.