Brussels Airport just added 700 EV chargers and they don’t have idle fees

Brussels Airport in Belgium now has 750 EV chargers, and it wants you to leave your EV plugged in when you go on holiday.

Interparking, which manages the more than 13,000 public parking spaces at Brussels Airport, has installed 500 new charging stations for passengers in P1 and P3, in front of the airport terminal. And for airport staff, 200 new charging stations have been added to the P1 parking area.

Interparking’s announcement doesn’t state how fast the chargers are, but there are 22 kW chargers already onsite – a typical Level 2 charging speed in Europe. So I’m going to presume the 700 new ones will be similar.

Interparking says any credit card can be used for the charging stations, which are first come, first served. If the driver uses Interparking’s Pcard+ pass, there isn’t a connection fee.

City Dwellers’s Take

This is an impressive number of EV chargers to be installed at an airport. And Brussels Airport is far from Europe’s busiest airport – it’s ranked 26th for passenger traffic.

To spotlight how Brussels is trailblazing considering its size, for comparison, LAX, the sixth-busiest airport in the world, has 400 EV charging stations (and it says it’s adding 1,200 more).

Here’s the standout part about the Brussels Airport announcement: It’s actively encouraging passengers to leave their EVs plugged in while traveling. CEO Arnaud Feist said, “Thanks to our partner Interparking, passengers will be able to recharge their vehicles in our car parks while on holiday.”

Interpark says the charging stations “are a perfect match for cars left stationary for multiple days or weeks while the owner is traveling.” Weeks! (If I left my EV for weeks at Logan Airport in Boston, with just 58 charging stations, it’d probably get towed.) Plus, there are no idle fees once your car is fully charged at Brussels.

Level 2 chargers are perfect for staff who work at the airport. I’d be happy to leave my car plugged in at a regular 120V outlet at the airport if I was traveling. But if the option was to plug into a Level 2 and not worry about excess charges or penalties while I was gone, then fantastic.

What do you think about how Brussels Airport is rolling out EV chargers? Let us know in the comments below.

Read more: This new EV charging station drives around airport tarmacs

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