The charging posts for electric cars in Flanders are used 0.6 times per day on average, according to figures by Zuhal Demir, the Flemish Minister for Energy.
In 2018, 1,320 public charging points were installed in Flanders, and in 2019, 600 more were added, putting the total of public charging posts at 3,655. The initial plan was to have 5,000 at the end of 2020, but that deadline has been postponed to 2021.
Allego, the Dutch operator who is responsible for the posts, has said that a few hundred charging posts that were supposed to be in place last year, still have to be installed, reports Het Laatste Nieuws.
The difficult location determination is the main cause of the delay, according to the operator. "Fluvius, the grid operator, has to choose the locations of the charging stations, but we demand locations with the highest possible chance of use," said Harold Langenberg, the Benelux director, reports De Tijd. "The more charging stations there are in Flanders, the more difficult that choice becomes," he added.
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The installed charging stations are being used, but the number of recharges per day is quite low. "Our posts are used 0.6 times per day in Flanders, on average. Particularly in small municipalities where most citizens have their own driveway or garage, the number of charges per month can be extremely low," Langenberg added.
The low figures are mostly due to the mediocre popularity of electric cars in Flanders, according to him. Only 2% of the cars sold in Flanders was fully electric in 2019.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
