Once the charging starts, the part bk World takes care of begins. The lounges offer a sheltered seating area, modern sanitary facilities and coffee specialties. Food and drinks come from RFID-enabled fridges: open the door, take what you want, close it again, and payment settles cashlessly in the background. A pizza vending machine serves hot food at three in the morning just as readily as at midday. Step-free access and a baby changing table are part of the offer, so commuters, professional drivers and families can all make use of the space. Restocking, cleaning and technical service are handled by bk World’s own permanently employed site staff.

The three charging hubs serve markedly different traffic situations. Deerlijk sits on Vichtesteenweg at junction 4 of the E17 between Ghent and Kortrijk, covering one of Western Europe’s principal freight corridors with eight charging points. Drogenbos, on Humaniteitslaan directly beside the Brussels Ring, offers twelve charging points. Houffalize, in the Les Cheras business park at junction 51 of the E25 between Liège and Bastogne, serves holiday traffic into the Ardennes and on to Luxembourg with four charging points. Every site delivers up to 400 kW.

“A charging stop lasts twenty minutes, and those twenty minutes decide whether someone enjoys driving electric or merely tolerates it,” says Gerold Wolfarth, founder and CEO of bk World. “So we don’t build waiting areas. We build places where you sit down, drink a decent coffee and drive on in better shape than you arrived.”

With six sites, Belgium now ranks among one of the strongest markets in the bk World network. The partnership with Fastned currently carries lounges in several European countries, with further openings scheduled for this year.