Belgian retail group Colruyt will roll out 10 000 new charging stations at its own network of supermarkets and other public venues like hospitals and shopping centers. It will combine ‘slow’ 10 to 20 kW AC chargers and ‘fast’ DC chargers up to 150 kW.

Those fast-chargers installed by energy daughter DATS 24 will allow Colruyt clients to charge up to 350 km of range in thirty to sixty minutes, the typical time they spend in the supermarket. The news broke at Colruyt’s shareholder’s meeting and was confirmed by DATS 24’s Head of EV Charging, Jonas Cau­taerts, to the newspaper De Tijd.

Today, Colruyt already has 930 ‘slow’ charging points at 280 supermarkets, primarily in Flanders, where 80% of the current 35 000 charging points in Belgium are located. Brussels accounts for 14%, Wallonia is lagging with 8%.

Good news for Wallonia?

But for them, the good news is that Colruyt just announced the take-over of 57 Match and Smatch supermarkets from Group Delhaize, mainly in the French-speaking part of Belgium. For Flanders, the Colruyt chargers will add rapidly to the goal of already having 35 000 charging points in 2025.

Colruyt plans to install at its supermarkets in cooperation with installation specialist Pluginvest ‘charging plazas’ with two double AC chargers and three double DC chargers at 150 kW. In theory, ten vehicles can charge simultaneously. The chargers will be open to the clients and residents living nearby during night hours. At its headquarters in Halle, Colruyt already has a charging plaza capable of charging 109 EVs simultaneously.