Belgium’s EV sector is urging the federal government to launch a social-leasing scheme for electric cars from 2027, with both new and used EVs eligible.

Sector federation EV Belgium says lower-income households that depend on a car for work should have access to affordable financing, allowing them to benefit from lower running costs rather than remain locked into petrol or diesel.

That argument has merit, but it also raises an uncomfortable question for the EV sector itself. If electric cars can already save many motorists money over their lifetime, should the industry not be doing more to prove that directly to private buyers rather than mainly asking governments to make the switch easier through subsidies and support schemes?

Crucke is already working on it

The call comes at an interesting moment because the idea is already further advanced than the federation’s appeal might suggest. The federal coalition agreement explicitly states that the government will examine a social leasing mechanism for electric vehicles for employees with incomes below a certain threshold.

Federal Mobility Minister Jean-Luc Crucke confirmed in June that the administration is already working on the concept. A preliminary study has been completed, and further work is under way.

His cabinet is also consulting market players on the costs and on possible formulas with and without public support. That distinction matters because Prime Minister Bart De Wever is reluctant to open another subsidy pot.

Used company cars could be Belgium’s trump card

EV Belgium itself does not yet put a price on its proposal. It says neither how much a social lease should cost per month nor where the income ceiling should lie, how much support each vehicle would receive, or what the scheme would cost overall. Its most distinctive suggestion is that second-hand EVs should also qualify.

That could suit Belgium particularly well. Years of favorable company-car taxation have electrified the corporate fleet far faster than the private market. As those leases expire, a growing stream of relatively young EVs will reach the second-hand market.

Instead of copying France and largely subsidizing new cars, Belgium could use depreciated ex-company EVs to stretch the same public budget further.

That possibility was already highlighted by Newmobility.news earlier this month. Today’s first wave of returning electric company cars remains relatively expensive, but smaller and cheaper EVs now entering corporate fleets should gradually broaden the pool of affordable used models.

More than €700 a year in energy savings

EV Belgium estimates that an average petrol driver can save more than €700 a year, or at least €50 a month, in energy costs by switching to electric.

Director Philippe Vangeel argues that households hit hardest by high petrol prices have the most to gain. Rather than lowering fuel excise duties for everyone, he says public policy should help lower-income motorists access a technology that is structurally cheaper to run.

The federation points to Dutch research showing that low-income households spend around twice as much of their income on fuel as higher-income households, rising to almost three times as much for some people who drive extensively for work.

EV Belgium therefore presents social leasing as a more targeted alternative to subsidizing petrol and diesel. An affordable used EV saving a household €50 a month on energy could, it argues, be socially more useful than a one-off subsidy for a new car.

That €700 figure, however, covers energy costs rather than the economics of full ownership. Whether an EV ultimately saves money also depends on purchase or lease price, depreciation, financing, insurance, maintenance, taxes and, crucially, where the car is charged.

Convincing politicians, but what about consumers?

There is an irony here. EV Belgium describes raising public awareness as part of its mission and presents itself as an independent information source for people considering an EV, yet much of its visible activity remains aimed at policymakers and the industry.

Its new calculator illustrates the gap. It compares petrol or diesel expenditure with electricity costs under different charging scenarios, but deliberately stops short of a full Total Cost of Ownership calculation. Purchase price, financing, depreciation, insurance, maintenance and taxes are not included.

That makes the tool useful for comparing energy bills, but less suitable for answering the question many private buyers actually have: will an EV cost me less overall than the petrol or diesel car I am considering?

For a federation concerned that private buyers remain hesitant, directly convincing consumers may therefore be almost as important as convincing politicians to support the switch.

It also leaves room for independent media to test affordability claims against real-world purchase prices, depreciation, charging costs and different ownership scenarios.

France shows both the potential and the bill

France remains the obvious benchmark. Its renewed 2026 social-leasing program opened in July with a €401 million envelope for at least 50,000 households. Monthly payments are capped at €200, with at least a quarter of the initial offers below €140. Contracts run for at least three years.

Eligibility is tightly targeted at lower-income people who depend on a car for work. France has demonstrated strong demand, but also that social leasing becomes expensive quickly and does not automatically reach the poorest households. Insurance, charging, and other running costs are not included in the monthly lease price.

Netherlands studies the same route

The Netherlands is also examining a French-style system. Researchers estimated that around €1.1 billion could help 160,000 low-income, car-dependent households switch to an EV if public support averaged €7,000 per vehicle. Limiting the scheme to about 55,000 working households would cut the estimated bill to around €390 million.

Their central argument is that targeted EV support may be more effective than broad fuel-tax cuts. The current Dutch fuel-excise reduction costs around €1.7 billion a year, while much of the benefit flows to higher-income drivers.

Belgium is therefore moving from political debate toward practical design. France has demonstrated the demand; the Netherlands is determining whom to target and at what cost; and the Belgian federal government is already examining how such a system could be financed.

The key question is whether Belgium can use its unusually large pool of ex-company EVs to build a cheaper version of social leasing, while also doing more to convince private motorists that electric driving can make financial sense without a subsidy.