Electric Mobility Infrastructure, a subsidiary of the French company Engie, has won the contract to install 1,650 charging stations in Walloon municipalities.
Since each charging station has two charging points, this totals 3,300 charging points, representing an increase of nearly 44% over the current charging infrastructure in the southern part of the country.
Catch-up effort
Wallonia is thus embarking on a catch-up effort. At the end of last year, Flanders had 22,310 charging stations, compared to just 3,700 in Wallonia.
According to Walloon Minister of Mobility François Desquesnes (Les Engagés), his predecessor, Philippe Henry (Ecolo), had developed a subsidy plan for installing 6,000 charging stations, totaling 12,000 charging points.
The financial inspectorate, however, had rejected this in 2024, likely because it felt that the government did not need to pay or subsidize private operators for something those operators could already operate themselves profitably, namely through the charging rates paid by users.
The Court of Auditors also delivered a scathing critique last year: without a coherent vision, enhanced coordination, and anticipation of needs, Wallonia risks missing the transition to electric mobility.
Recently, the Ministers had already revised the classification of highway parking areas, meaning that Type 3 parking zones can now also be equipped with charging stations for EVs.
Concession model
So, Wallonia is now adopting a concession model, under which Engie will invest its own funds and recoup its costs through charging fees, without a single euro of public money.
The exact locations for the charging stations will be determined in the coming weeks in consultation with the 245 participating municipalities. Still, they will primarily be installed in parking lots and along streets.
Half of them must be operational within the year, with the second half following in 2028. The company has committed to operating the charging stations for ten years.
The price for the energy component will be the same everywhere, but the final price per kWh may vary due to grid costs and taxes. A guide price of 48 cents per kWh is being used. A government analysis previously showed that prices from other providers in Wallonia range from 30 to 60 cents.
