How many charging points must a business building have?

It depends on where your building is and how many car spaces its car park has. In Flanders an existing non-residential building with more than 20 spaces needs at least two charging points. In Wallonia it needs one, plus ducting for 1 space in 5. In Brussels a permitted car park needs a share of its spaces equipped, up to 30% for offices by 2035. The minimum is small today, but it grows fast. Load management, and where needed a business battery that covers the charging peaks, lets you meet it on the connection you already have.

Maybe you manage an office, a shop or a warehouse with a car park. Staff are switching to electric company cars. The landlord, a customer or an auditor asks whether the site is compliant. And the electrician says the connection will not carry many chargers.

What most owners do not see yet is that the minimum is a moving target. Two charging points is what Flanders asks today. The European directive asks ten for a car park of 100 spaces from 2027, and Brussels already goes further. A logistics entrepreneur on a Belgian forum wrote that he had waited over a year for a Fluvius connection. It was for his solar and charging project. Wait for the next rule change and you join that queue.

There is another route. On a farm in Tielt, the battery system delivers extra power, so the connection did not need to be upgraded. The grid stays connected, but only as a charger.

Which business buildings must have charging points in Belgium?

Every non-residential building with a car park above a threshold must have charging points or ducting, and the threshold depends on the region. The rules come from the European directive on the energy performance of buildings. Each region wrote its own version.

Sources: Vlaanderen.be, SPW Energie (energie.wallonie.be), Bruxelles Environnement and Directive (EU) 2024/1275, article 14. Links in the sources list.

A charging point is more than a socket. In Flanders it must deliver more than 3.7 kW (16 A) and have a Type 2 (AC) or Combo 2 (DC) connector. The rules cover spaces for passenger cars, not trucks or tractors. If you plan to charge trucks, read our article on charging electric trucks at your depot.

What does Flanders require for charging points at non-residential buildings?

In Flanders, an existing non-residential building with more than 20 parking spaces needs at least two charging points since 2025. New buildings and major renovations with more than 10 spaces need two charging points and ducting for 1 space in 4.

A major renovation here means that more than 25% of the building envelope is renovated. The duty then applies when the works also touch the car park or the electrical installation. Ducting means conduits or cable trays, so a charging point can be added later without breaking open the car park.

The details decide how many points you need:

• The rule applies per car park. Zones reached through one access road count as one car park. Car parks with their own access road are counted separately.
• One car park for several buildings adds up. Vlaanderen.be gives the example of a supermarket and a shoe shop on one car park: at least four charging points since 2025.
• Adjacent car parks count. A car park on your own site, used by the building users, falls under the rule.
• Public access is your choice. The rules do not say whether the charging points must be open to the public.
• Agricultural and industrial buildings are non-residential too. A farm or factory with a large car park is covered.

The building owner is responsible, or the holder of a real right such as a long lease. For a new building it is the permit holder. The Flemish energy agency VEKA can fine 2,000 euro per missing charging point and 1,000 euro per space without the required ducting. For a major renovation, the duty is capped at 7% of the total renovation cost.

What are the charging point rules in Wallonia?

In Wallonia, a non-residential building with more than 20 spaces has needed one charging point and ducting for 1 space in 5 since 2025. New buildings and major renovations with more than 10 spaces carry the same duty.

The Walloon rule is part of the energy performance rules (PEB). A major renovation means works on at least a quarter of the envelope. Several separate car parks serving one building are added up to check the threshold. Buildings for collective housing, such as care homes, follow the non-residential rule.

A car park counts as adjacent when three conditions are met. It is physically or technically connected to the building. It is used mainly by the building occupants. And the same holder of a real right owns both. Planning a connection or a heavier one in Wallonia? Our article on grid tariffs for businesses in Wallonia and Brussels explains what peaks cost with ORES, RESA and Sibelga.

How many charging points does a Brussels car park need?

In Brussels, the number of charging points follows the number of spaces in your environmental permit and the type of building. It applies to car parks from 10 spaces, covered or in the open air.

Fast charging counts extra. A charging point from 50 to 150 kW counts as 5 points, and one of 150 kW or more counts as 10. In a covered car park, fast chargers above 50 kW need explicit permission in the permit. The fire service must give a positive opinion first. Mixed car parks apply the ratios pro rata, and shared spaces take the highest ratio.

Brussels adds safety and reporting duties. You declare the installed charging points to the grid operator every year. You need an emergency stop at each entrance and a fire-resistant surface under the chargers. New car parks must provide ducting for a charging point on every space and a technical room for a high-voltage cabin. Where compliance is technically impossible or too expensive, you can ask for a reasoned exemption.

What changes for charging points in 2027 with the European buildings directive?

By 1 January 2027, the revised European directive asks one charging point per 10 spaces, or ducting for half of them. It covers every non-residential building with more than 20 spaces. Today's Flemish and Walloon minimum is far lower.

Directive (EU) 2024/1275 had to be transposed by 29 May 2026. At the time of writing, in September 2026, the official Flemish and Walloon pages still show the 2025 rules. Plan for the European level anyway: it is the floor the regions must reach.

• New or renovated, more than 5 spaces: 1 charging point per 5 spaces, plus pre-cabling for half the spaces and ducting for the rest.
• New and renovated office buildings: at least 1 charging point per 2 spaces.
• Bicycles: parking for at least 15% of the average or 10% of the total user capacity of the building.
• Buildings owned or used by public bodies: pre-cabling for half of the spaces by 1 January 2033.
• Smart charging: the charging points must be capable of smart charging and, where appropriate, bidirectional charging.

The directive also asks that pre-cabling is sized for the simultaneous use of the required charging points. It mentions load management explicitly. That matters for your connection: 30 charging points on a new office car park of 60 spaces are 330 kW on paper.

Flanders is also preparing its own step. According to Fleet.be (August 2026), a draft decree would require every new or replaced private charging point to support smart charging from 1 January 2028. It is a draft, not yet law.

Designing a new building? Our guide for architects and engineering firms designing a building with a battery shows how to plan chargers, board and battery together.

How much power do the required charging points add to your connection?

On paper, every AC charging point adds 11 kW on three phases at 16 A, or 22 kW at 32 A. Two points are 22 kW. Ten points are 110 kW when all cars charge at full power at the same time.

Two charging points usually fit on the connection of a business building. The problem starts with the next steps: the Brussels ratios, the European level from 2027, and the employees who all want to charge. Ten or thirty charging points can push a building past the limit of its connection.

In Flanders, that limit has consequences. Fluvius connects everything below 25 kVA on low voltage. Between 25 and 250 kVA the grid operator decides. Above 250 kVA you are always connected on medium voltage, with your own customer cabin. From 25 kVA, a paid study comes first. In areas with congestion, the connection can also be postponed. Our article on what to do when a heavier connection is refused covers that case.

Real demand is lower than the sum on paper, because cars arrive at different times and with different states of charge. To work out your real extra power from simultaneity and quarter-hour data, read our article on charging stations for a business without a heavier connection. Every extra kW in your monthly peak also costs money through the capacity tariff for businesses.

How do you meet the charging point obligation without a heavier connection?

Install the required charging points and let them share the power your connection has left. Add a battery only where cars and building peak at the same time. In that order, most business buildings meet the rule without a new connection.

A battery does this automatically. In a Victron system, the peak shaving limits apply to the complete system, including EV chargers installed in parallel. Above the limit, the battery supplies the extra power, as long as it has enough charge. Our business battery systems support fast-charging infrastructure, with chargers up to 180 kVA controlled via Victron technology. Read how peak shaving with a battery works in practice.

When is a heavier connection or a cabin still the better choice?

When your extra demand stays above the connection limit for hours every day. A battery shifts energy; it cannot deliver energy that is not there.

Buying or renting a new business building? Check the grid connection before you sign, including the car park and the charging points the new rules will ask.

What happens when you ask us to check your car park?

We start from your car park, your region and your measured consumption.

1. Step 1: Count. We list your car parks, spaces and building type, and the rule and deadline that apply to each.
2. Step 2: Measure. We compare your quarter-hour peak with the limit of your connection. If data is missing, we measure first.
3. Step 3: Design. We size charging points, load management and, where the peaks coincide, a battery with its inverter power.
4. Step 4: Install and follow up. Installation, commissioning, inspection under the electrical code (AREI) and monitoring in our software.

A battery system on your site needs its own checks, such as fire safety and the notification to the grid operator. Our article on business battery safety covers fire service, permits and insurance.