At the second Mobility Stakeholders Day of the Belgian mobility federation Mobia on Tuesday in Brussels, guest speaker professor Dave Sinardet made those ‘stakeholders’ face the facts that there is a considerable gap to be bridged between the sector and the general public when it comes to the importance of everyday mobility issues and the needed energy transition.

Studies conducted in Flanders in 2023 show the man in the street isn’t lying awake at night of the growing challenge in mobility, ranking it as one of the most minor problems for Belgium today, far behind issues like economy, migration, or energy prices. There is still a lot of ignorance and even a lack of concern, as long as it doesn’t hit the Belgian in his wallet.

Three main priorities?

Mobia, the joint federation of Febiac (car importers), Traxio (mobility services), and Renta (car lease sector), sees three main priorities for its lobbying activities: a fiscal reform of (car) mobility, having enough chargers for EVs and how to find and train skilled technicians for the future. Better informing the general public of the challenges ahead isn’t seen as one of them.

The federation’s priorities all focus on getting things ‘moving’ with politicians. It formulated a 40-page thick ‘to-do list’ for politicians with 100 ‘recommendations’  to get the country ready for the energy transition and changing mobility, both needed to tackle the doom of climate change, in which the EU is taking the lead worldwide.

‘Claiming’ mobility issues

However, analysis by Political Science Professor Dave Sindardet from VUB/UCL shows that no political party is actually ‘claiming’ mobility as one of its core priorities. If ignorance makes it a non-issue for their voters, why would they, Sinardet questioned?

That might change when it starts hitting the consumer’s wallet, like a kilometer tax on the actual use of the car – not the ownership – to be introduced instead of car registration and road taxes today.

Almost all agree on the kilometer tax

In a debate concluding the Stakeholders Day with representatives of most Belgian parties on both sides of the linguistic border, it showed all of them – except the Flemish Vooruit party – favor a nationwide ‘smart’ kilometer tax. That should consider alternatives for commuting and avoiding traffic jams, which cost the state €4,8 billion yearly.

The subject of a kilometer tax has surfaced for over twenty years, with all political parties pointing at each other and blaming the complex Belgian state structure for not moving forward. At least all parties in Brussels on Tuesday agreed this a ‘national matter’ that should be tackled over the regional borders.

Growing gap B2B and B2C

Meanwhile, ‘Vox Populi’ street interviews at an average gas station and an EV charging plaza, shown by Mobia, illustrate the man in the street is enduring the coming (r)evolution in everyday mobility without accurate conception. There is a growing gap between those with a company car and private drivers, figures by Mobia research show.

There are some 400 00 ‘electric cars’ on Belgian roads, BEV and PHEV combined, expected to grow to 1,5 million BEVs and 500 000 PHEVs by 2030. In the first eight months of 2023, 335 942 new cars were sold in Belgium. Of those, 67,4% were ‘company cars,’ and 32,6% to private consumers.

When looking at which drivetrains were chosen, of those company cars, 51,7% were electrified (BEV or PHEV), while in the private market, this figure drops to 9,6%. Private drivers still massively go for gasoline cars (68,7%), while diesel fell back to 6,8%.

HEV still popular

When considering ‘electric’, for most private buyers, mild hybrids (HEV 13,4%) go down well, probably fueled by dominant publicity campaigns by certain brands like Toyota, questionably promoting ‘electric for the price of gasoline’. BEVs and PHEVs score equally: 4,8%.

In the B2B market, PHEVs (27,7%) are still popular to avoid ‘range anxiety’, as long as it is possible to tax-deduct it for 100%. But that ended in July 2023. BEVs (24,0%) suffered from long delivery times that are being resolved gradually but are expected to become the bulk of sales in the next two years. Belgium will only allow zero-emission company cars to be sold from 2026 on.

Most chargers in Flanders

When it comes to charging these EVs in the future, it showed again a vast difference between different Belgian regions with 35 000 public charging points available in 2023, of which 80% is located in Flanders, 14% in Wallonia, and 8% in Brussels. That has to increase to 200 000 by 2030, the sector calculated.

Still a lot of catching up to do, especially in the French-speaking part of Belgium. But first, don’t we need to help ‘Mr Average’ to find his way in this whole new world of electric mobility? And maybe there is an opportunity for Mobia to ‘claim’ this as its priority?