Rules and money for zero-emission buses in Belgium, 2026

Two things decide the pace of electric city buses in Belgium: the EU rule that from 2026 at least 65 % of the buses bought with public money must be clean, half of them zero-emission, and the regional deadlines on top of it — Flanders wants all public transport buses zero-emission by 2035, Brussels bans diesel city buses from 2036, Wallonia aims at 2045. The money side is thinner than it was: the Flemish investment premium for e-buses stopped on 1 January 2026, so what remains for a private operator is the De Lijn operator premium inside a contract and the federal 40 % investment deduction. Buses pay no kilometre charge. This page lists the rules by level, EU first, then each region, each with a dated source. A house rule of this site: regional rules count as much as EU rules, because in Belgium the regions run the buses.

At a glance

EU: the Clean Vehicles Directive, Belgium’s shares

Directive (EU) 2019/1161 obliges every public buyer of buses — purchase, lease, hire and public service contracts alike — to meet a national minimum share of clean vehicles. The shares are counted per Member State over all contracts in the period, so De Lijn, STIB-MIVB and TEC fall under them together. For buses, half of the share must be zero-emission; a clean bus may also run on gas or biofuel (European Parliament legislative observatory, 2019; Stibbe, 19 Jul 2019).

Annex, table 4 of the Directive, Belgium row, read on the UK legislation mirror of the EU text (legislation.gov.uk, consulted 29 Oct 2026). The EUR-Lex page itself could not be read for this page; the figures match two Belgian law-firm notes from 2019.

Belgian transposition is federal. Public procurement law is a federal matter, so the shares entered Belgian law through the law of 18 May 2022, which amended the public procurement and concession laws of 17 June 2016 and added the definitions of clean and zero-emission heavy vehicles plus the reference periods and targets in new annexes (Publius, 30 May 2022; Chamber of Representatives, doc 55K2496, 2022). That was about ten months after the EU deadline of 2 August 2021. No separate Flemish, Walloon or Brussels act transposing the shares was found; the three transport companies apply the federal law. TEC reads the targets as its own quota: 45 % clean buses by the end of 2025, at least half zero-emission, 65 % by 2030 (RTBF, 28 Aug 2024).

Flanders

The 2035 goal

The Flemish Government wants fully emission-free public transport by 2035. In April 2026 the 1,000th electric bus entered service in Antwerp, out of about 3,800 buses running in Flanders, roughly three quarters of them owned by private operators (exploitanten) working for De Lijn (VRT NWS, 15 Apr 2026; De Lijn, strategy for 2035). The goal dates from the 2019–2024 coalition agreement, which also wanted zero-emission city centres by 2025, a date that was missed (Flemish Parliament, committee report, 7 Jan 2021; Flemish Parliament, 20 Apr 2023). We found no decree that makes 2035 a legal duty: it lives in De Lijn’s public service contract and in policy notes. The 2024–2029 coalition agreement put EUR 400 million into new electric buses for De Lijn, a one-off sum spent in 2025, when more than 630 e-buses were ordered; the plan is about 200 a year from now on (VRT NWS, 5 Oct 2024; VRT NWS, 10 Dec 2025; Flemish Parliament, budget 2026 document). More on the fleet on the Flanders page.

Money for private operators

No other Flemish purchase premium for e-buses or depot chargers of private operators was found for 2026. What is left for a Flemish operator in 2026 is the federal investment deduction below.

Low-emission zones in Antwerp and Ghent

The Flemish Government withdrew the tightenings planned for 2026 and 2028: a first decision on 19 September 2025, the final one on 28 November 2025 after a negative but non-binding opinion of the Council of State. Euro 5 diesel vehicles stay allowed; the zones will be evaluated in 2027 and may then be changed or abolished (Flemish Government, 19 Sep 2025; VRT NWS, 28 Nov 2025). In 2023 De Lijn’s Euro VI diesel buses were given access until the end of 2026 (VRT NWS, 19 Jul 2023); what applies to buses after the 2025 decision is not spelled out in the sources we found.

Brussels-Capital Region

Brussels is the one region where a date is written into law. The low-emission zone covers the whole Region since 2018 and its calendar runs to 2036 for every vehicle class. Buses and coaches have been in the zone since the 2025 step: minimum Euro VI for diesel. City buses must be electric from 2036; no end date has been set yet for diesel coaches and lorries (Brussels Environment, LEZ assessment report 2024, 16 Oct 2025).

STIB-MIVB plans a fully battery-electric fleet by the end of 2035, a programme of about EUR 1 billion including vehicles; 300 more e-buses are planned for 2028–2029 (RTBF, 28 Aug 2024; RTBF, 2025). Details on the Brussels page. No Brussels purchase premium for zero-emission buses or coaches was found; the Region’s premiums target vans of small companies.

Wallonia

Wallonia has no low-emission zone: the region-wide LEZ decree of 17 January 2019 never received its implementing orders and was repealed in April 2024 (Le Moniteur Automobile, 6 Mar 2024). The pace is set by TEC’s public service contract instead: at least 350 electric buses by 2029–2030, 17 electrified depots by 2030 and a zero-emission fleet by 2045. TEC orders only electric buses since 2024 and has ruled out hydrogen; 191 e-buses were on order in June 2026 (TEC press, 5 Jun 2026). The Walloon Region pays EUR 22.9 million a year for the transition, and the depot calendar is explicitly “subject to obtaining the required grid power” (L’Avenir, 1 Aug 2026). No Walloon purchase premium for e-buses or coaches of private operators was found. More on the Wallonia page.

Federal: the investment deduction

The thematic investment deduction for carbon-free transport lets a company deduct 40 % of the cost of a zero-emission bus or coach from its taxable profit, on top of normal depreciation, with a cap of EUR 500,000 per investment. For 2025 investments the rate was 40 % for self-employed people and small companies and 30 % for large companies; for 2026 investments it is 40 % for all. A certificate from the Federal Public Service Mobility must be attached to the tax return; applications are open since 1 April 2026 and work back to purchases since 1 January 2025. At a corporate tax rate of 25 %, 40 % deduction is worth about 10 % of the price (Transportmedia, 1 Apr 2026; ITAA, 15 Apr 2026; FBAA circular 25.005, Jan 2025). The deduction cannot be combined with regional subsidies except where a Royal Decree says so.

Kilometre charge: buses pay nothing

The Belgian kilometre charge (Viapass, since 1 April 2016) applies only to vehicles of category N with a maximum mass above 3.5 t, that is, lorries. Buses and coaches are category M and are not subject to it at all: no on-board unit, no exemption to request (Viapass, “Tolplichtig?”; Flemish Tax Administration, exemptions). Zero-emission lorries have paid a reduced or zero rate since January 2023; for a bus that advantage does not exist because there is no charge to begin with. We checked this against Viapass’s own answer and the Flemish exemptions page, not against the regulation text (see the list at the end).

EU: CO2 standards for city buses, 90 % in 2030, 100 % in 2035

Regulation (EU) 2024/1610 sets fleet-wide CO2 targets for makers of heavy vehicles: −45 % in 2030, −65 % in 2035 and −90 % in 2040 against 2019. For new city buses it goes further: 90 % of new registrations must be zero-emission from 2030 and 100 % from 2035 (Council of the EU, 13 May 2024; European Commission, climate action, 2026). For a Belgian operator this means that from 2030 a diesel city bus will be hard to buy in Europe at all, whatever the regional rule says.

The 2026 amendment. The Automotive Package of 16 December 2025 proposed a flexibility for 2025–2029: makers earn credits when their fleet beats a fixed annual target instead of a straight-line path. Parliament adopted it on 12 March 2026, the Council on 30 March 2026, and it became Regulation (EU) 2026/1046 of 29 April 2026. It applies to heavy lorries above 16 t and to buses and coaches above 7.5 t, but city buses are excluded: their 90 % and 100 % dates stand (Sustainable Bus, 13 Mar 2026; Council of the EU, 30 Mar 2026; EUR-Lex, Regulation (EU) 2026/1046, OJ 7 May 2026). The ICCT estimates the flexibility halves the zero-emission share of heavy-vehicle sales needed by 2030, from 32 % to 16 % (ICCT, Jun 2026). The Commission’s review of the whole regulation is due in 2027; makers asked for it to be brought forward, and no review proposal had been published by October 2026 (The Brussels Times, 30 Mar 2026).

EU: Euro 7 for buses

Regulation (EU) 2024/1257 (Euro 7) applies to buses (M2 and M3) from 29 May 2028 for new types and 29 May 2029 for all new vehicles; small-volume makers get until 1 July 2031 (European Parliament legislative observatory, 2024; DieselNet, EU heavy-duty standards). For a battery-electric bus the tailpipe limits are irrelevant; what matters are the rules on battery durability and the state-of-health information the vehicle must provide. The Automotive Omnibus of December 2025 proposes to simplify Euro 7 for heavy vehicles, including a postponement; in October 2026 that proposal was still in the Council (European Parliamentary Research Service, 2026; AECC, status of Euro 7, 2026).

EU: AFIR and what it means for a bus depot

The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (EU) 2023/1804, in force since 13 April 2024, obliges Member States to provide public charging for heavy vehicles: along the TEN-T road network in steps for 2025, 2027 and 2030 (every 60 km on the core network by 2030), and in every TEN-T urban node, which in Belgium includes Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Liège and Charleroi (Transport & Environment, 2023; ICCT policy update, Apr 2023). AFIR puts no duty on a private bus depot. In Belgium the obligation falls on the regions. A city bus charges in its depot or at a terminus, so the rule that counts for an operator is the grid connection, not AFIR. The exact kilowatt figures per charging pool are not repeated here because the regulation text could not be read for this page.

Grid connection: Fluvius and Elia

In Flanders the bottleneck for a depot is power, not permits. A depot for 100 electric buses draws the power of 421 households, De Lijn told the Flemish Parliament (Flemish Parliament, doc 513 (2025-2026) nr. 1, 9 Oct 2025). Elia and Fluvius announced five measures for flexible access on 27 March 2025, naming companies that install many charge points as one driver of the shortage at the interfaces between the two grids (Elia, 27 Mar 2025). By December 2025 Fluvius had 1,656 active industrial connection files and 64 % of Elia’s 2025 requests were only possible as a flexible connection; half of the new heavy connection contracts carry a flexibility clause (VRT NWS, 11 Dec 2025).

De Lijn is electrifying about 20 depots, some permits contested (VRT NWS, 15 Apr 2026). In Wallonia TEC makes its whole depot calendar conditional on grid power (L’Avenir, 1 Aug 2026). The rules of ORES and RESA (Wallonia) and Sibelga (Brussels) are not covered here yet. The chargers that fit these depots are on the charger sheets.

What this page could not confirm

• The Belgium row of the Clean Vehicles Directive annex was read on the UK legislation mirror and in two law-firm notes, not on EUR-Lex itself.
• Any Flemish, Walloon or Brussels legal act transposing the Directive’s shares; the transposition appears to be federal only.
• A Flemish decree or Government decision that makes “all buses zero-emission by 2035” a legal duty; found only in strategy documents and press statements.
• Whether EUR 21,700 and EUR 30,400 are still the 2026 amounts of the De Lijn operator premium; they were agreed in 2022 and confirmed in 2023, and De Lijn’s 2025 page confirms a premium without an amount.
• The VLAIO pages themselves (they refused our requests): the pre-2026 Ecologiepremie+ figures come from search summaries and from the press coverage of the scheme’s end.
• The official FPS Finance text with the 30 % / 40 % split for 2025 investments.
• The regulation text of the kilometre charge on category M vehicles; the exclusion of buses and coaches rests on Viapass’s own FAQ and the Flemish exemptions page.
• The Brussels LEZ Euro steps for buses and coaches between 2027 and 2035; only the Euro VI step and the 2036 city-bus date are confirmed from the 2024 assessment report.
• The kilowatt figures per AFIR charging pool and the Belgian national policy framework under AFIR.
• Any Belgian bus-depot connection in megawatts or a flexible-connection contract for a bus depot.
• The outcome of the Euro 7 Omnibus for heavy vehicles, still in the Council in October 2026, and a reported exception for M2/M3 until the end of 2029.
• The exact review article of Regulation (EU) 2024/1610; the 2027 review date comes from the Council and Parliament summaries.

Research closed 29 October 2026. Corrections through the contact page.