On Thursday morning, charging infrastructure company Allego and real estate investor Mitiska REIM have opened a public fast-charging park for 24 cars in the parking lot of the Malinas shopping center in Mechelen.
According to both partners, it is now the largest publicly accessible fast-charging hub in Flanders. The largest public fast-charging station so far was located on the E17 in Gentbrugge, with 20 charging points.
Charging & shopping
Visitors in Mechelern can charge their car in about 20 minutes while shopping. “The charging stations offer 150 to 300 kilowatts,” explains Alexei Blokhine of Allego. “That means you can charge 80 percent of your battery within 20 minutes.”
“At all our retail locations where we already offer fast chargers, we see them in almost constant use,” Allego explains. “And where these are located in public charging zones, they are often occupied 24/7.” Allego is targeting a hundred charging sessions per day.
Essential infrastructure
Alderman for Mobility in Mechelen, Alexander Vandersmissen (Voor Mechelen), is pleased with the additional investment in charging infrastructure in the city, even though there are already 1,631 charging points in the city.
“We’re leading the way in Flanders,” he says. “We’re at 134 percent now, but we’ll continue to focus on this in the coming years. If cities and municipalities don’t provide charging infrastructure, people will hesitate to switch to electric vehicles.”
Allego is delighted to have found a location at the Malinas site. “Mechelen is our hometown, and we’re proud of that,” says Blokhine. “This is a beautiful site with several large supermarkets and other shops.”
‘Plug & Charge’
Allego offers four different payment methods: with a charging card, an app, a bank card, and a new option: ‘Plug & Charge’. Alexei Blokhine: “This fourth option is completely new and quite progressive. You link your car to a payment method, and your car becomes your payment terminal. When you start charging your car, the charger recognizes the vehicle, and vice versa. The charging session then starts automatically.”
