Car conversions are quite new for European countries compared to the United States where it has been widespread for 10 years. Since the technologies become more and more mature, conversions have been put in a new gear for its development.

While it is legally simple to convert a car in France, in the United Kingdom, in the Netherlands, in Germany and many others countries, Belgium is a bad student : there is still no legal framework for the conversion. The electric conversion of a thermal vehicle in Belgium is assimilated as a classic transformation of the vehicle which complactes the homologation.

Currently, to homologate a belgian converted car, you need the approval of the car manufacturer and several certification tests for each car converted. It was the same case in France until March 2020: they adopted a new policy to facilitate the greenification of car fleets. Two main barriers have fallen down. First, the approval from the manufacturer is not necessary anymore. Secondly, once a model has been tested by the competent authorities for certification, the next conversion on the same models does not need to be certified again.

This is a strong step forward in France for conversion and the text has been passed to the European Commission. It is just a matter of time for Belgium to follow the other countries.

That’s why Decarbone involves itself to speed up the regularization of vehicle conversions in Belgium !