Wallonia maps out public EV-charging needs: ‘2.448 stations by 2026’

Wallonia has almost finalized mapping out the EV stations needed for its 262 communities, Le Soir writes on Monday: 2.448 access points capable of at least two EVs charging simultaneously at 11 kW. The Walloon Region allocates €15 million in subsidies and prepares a tender to realize these public charging stations in the next two years, starting in 2024.

The French-speaking part of Belgium is lagging in EV-charging stations compared to Brussels and Flanders in particular. Flanders finished that exercise already in 2022, while already 12 560 charging points were active out of 35 000 planned by 2025.

Since then, local governments in Flanders can consult a map online that shows in hexagonal areas of approximately 200 meters the best locations for installing those public chargers. Wallonia is working to get a similar map online soon.

Brussels catching up

Brussels is also ahead compared to Wallonia, issuing already a fourth public tender for an additional 1 400 charging points on top of the 1 380 assigned to Charge.Brussels (Pitpoint and TotalEnergies) and 1 400 to EnergyVision (EnergyDrive network).

In December 2022, the Brussels Region launched the website electrify.brussels, which groups all information on public charging stations for electric vehicles – at that time, exactly 2 311 now some 3 000 – in the capital. Brussels aims to have 22 000 charging points available to the general public, including those of supermarkets and companies open to the public.

The €15 million Wallonia is allocating for now for a public tender for its 262 communities is targeting private companies to install additional chargers at public places like parking of swimming pools, libraries, sports complexes, etc. The government ‘reasonably assumes’ that most EV drivers will charge at home, at work, or at commercial outlets like supermarkets.

Complementary to private offerings

The network of 2 448 charging stations should be complementary to the private offerings, as is the network of a couple of dozens of fast chargers the Walloon infrastructural agency Sofico is taking care of along highways to comply with the EU rules.

The geographical EV-station locations map the territorial development agency Ideta is working on for the Walloon government divides the whole territory into hexagonal areas of 250 meters. It considers different parameters to define the needs. These are multiple, like the density of the population, the number of houses and businesses, sports complexes, or public transport stations.

The latter results in quite different densities of charging stations in the major cities like Charleroi (185), Liège (87), Namur (52), or Mons (39), compared to rural regions like Berloz where only one charging station will be installed at the local multi-sports complex. First installations are expected to start no sooner than June 2024, to be finalized in 2026 at the latest.