Belgium and Luxembourg join top-five in EV readiness (Ayvens)

The latest edition of Ayvens’ Mobility Guide 2024 provides a comprehensive country-by-country analysis of EV readiness and electrification pace. Belgium (4) and Luxembourg (5) are joining the top five countries despite a general negative feeling among mostly private buyers. Norway remains number one, with the Netherlands and Finland following close by.

The annual guide draws upon data from Ayvens’ fleet of 3.4 million vehicles, its local presence in 42 countries, and five additional countries through regional alliances. Ayvens is the new name of Europe’s most prominent rental companies, ALD Automotive and LeasePlan, which merged in 2023.

Six comparison pillars

Ayvens’s report says the main barriers to BEV adoption are still range anxiety, charging infrastructure complexity, and affordability. Their guide aims to provide an unbiased view of these barriers, focusing on six pillars. Considering the metrics, the sum of these pillars produces the total country score.

First is EV adoption: the share of EV (PHEV & BEV) sales volumes compared to the total industry volume with battery electric vehicles (BEVs) given greater weight. Next is the ‘Charging infrastructure‘ rating, which is the public charging infrastructure’s quality, quantity, and complexity relative to the number of EVs needed to charge per 100 km.

Taxes and regulation

The third pillar is ‘Taxation and regulation,’ which refers to government (federal, regional, and major cities) incentives, subsidies, or restrictions that impact the adoption of greener powertrains. The fourth is the ‘Green powertrain offering,’ which compares the number of battery electric vehicle models available in the market to the number of unique BEV models sold in the past 12 months.

An important one is the ‘BEV vs. ICE total cost of ownership (TCO) comparison,’ measuring the cost competitiveness of battery electric vehicles compared to their internal combustion engine counterparts. A country at cost parity receives a score of 3 out of 15. The cheaper it is to run a BEV, the higher the score.

Sustainable energy sources

A sixth factor for consideration is the ‘Sustainability relevance of the electricity, ‘ looking at the carbon intensity in the energy grid. A higher score indicates lower carbon emissions and a higher proportion of energy coming from renewable sources.

With a total score of 70 compared to 82 for Norway, the top EV adopters, Belgium and Luxembourg, are scoring quite well. EV adoption is good in both countries, primarily driven in Belgium by the professional market, where 67% of new car registrations are (mostly leased) company cars. And as only fully electric cars are 100% tax deductible from 2026 and ICE or PHEV are excluded from that moment on, the percentage of BEVs is high.

No idea of TCO

That’s far less the case in the private market, where gasoline cars remain the bulk, eventually with classic hybrids (HEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV). There is a general negative feeling toward EVs, particularly with potential private buyers, as initial purchase prices remain higher.

Contrary to companies that base their choice on the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), they have little idea of it. In Belgium, TCO is lower for BEVs than for ICE, with a cost per kilometer of 0.37 against 0.40, although the gap has shortened compared to last year.

Charging infrastructure could be better, with Wallonia lagging behind Flanders considerably and dragging down Belgium’s score. Luxembourg (9) shows fewer government incentives than Belgium (13), but here, too, Flanders leads the way compared to the two other regions.

When it comes to using ‘green electricity’ for its BEVs, Belgium (score of 4 out of 5) is doing slightly better than Luxembourg (3), but a lot better than the Netherlands (1).