Belgian first: schools launch ‘charging station installer’ training

All thirteen Provincial Education Flanders secondary technical schools will launch the training ‘charging station installer’ on the first of September. A Flanders’ first. Some manufacturers will support them. “Training will be the biggest challenge in the sector.”

Flanders faces a significant energy transition, and we need a faster rollout of charging infrastructure in Flanders. There’s no more time to lose. That is why provincial education and EV Belgium are joining forces.

500 students

The training will be offered in all schools of Provincial Education Flanders as part of the direction of electrical engineering and industrial building automation. About 500 students will get started with 60 brand-new charging stations.

Six partners from the business world – BMW Groep, Powerland, Venton, Blitz Power, Alfen, and Interparking – support the initiative by offering the school charging points as didactic material.

Sector crying for help

According to Alfen’s country manager, Yves Vercammen, the sector is crying for help. “The lack of competent installers makes waiting times only higher. And that is absurd. Anyone who buys an electric car must have access to a charging station within two weeks.”

By supporting the training, the companies hope that young and well-trained professionals will soon enter the market. The chance of employment is 100 percent, anyway. The number of existing charging stations has almost tripled in one year.

‘More complex than it looks’

By the end of this year, there will be 200 000 electric cars on Belgian roads, and by 2030, two million. And usually, there’s a need for one charging point for every ten electric vehicles.

The practice teachers say that the charging station installer training is an absolute necessity. “A charging station is far more complex than it looks. It also has to be able to ‘communicate’ with other electricity points in the house, with solar panels, the heat pump, and with the employer if he pays the bill for charging.”