Brussels mandates all car parks to get charging stations by 2025

The new policy would cover public, office and even residential parks, to meet the growing demand

This week, authorities in the Brussels Capital Region decided to introduce a new policy, mandating that all car parks that have over 10 spaces need to install charging stations for electric vehicles by 2025. The number of electric cars in the Belgian capital has increased by 75% in the last year and regional officials want to accommodate the growing demand.

Additionally, in 2020, the regional government decided to set the goal of constructing 22,000 public charging points by 2035 and this policy would them reach that number faster. Moreover, the policy mandates that apartment buildings also meet a certain threshold for electric cars.

As the RTBF reports, everyone who owns an electric car needs to have access to a charging station in their designated parking area.

A tenth of parking spaces in offices

From 1 January 2025, office car parks will have to convert a minimum of 10% of their parking spaces to charging stations for their employees. That number, however, is supposed to grow to 20% in 2030. Public car parks, on the other hand, should have 5% by 2025 and 10% by 2030.

This measure is in line with the EU’s general policy on electric and fossil-fuel cars. Last summer, the European Commission adopted a law stating that from 2035 new cars sold in the bloc would have to emit zero CO2. This means that electric cars are only set to increase and local authorities want to avoid a scramble for charging stations.

Also, in residential buildings, every resident who owns an electric vehicle must have access to a charging station. Authorities in the Belgian capital have also set guidelines on how to construct the charging stations to prevent fires, by using specific materials, ventilation and a system to cut off power in the event of an emergency.

Brussels’ Minister for Climate Transition and the Environment, Alain Maron, was quoted in a press release, explaining that around 1,000 people die every year from air pollution in the city and shifting cars towards zero-emissions solutions is a major priority.