December 05, 2022
France will ban short-haul domestic flights in favor of the train. The country was given the green light by the European Commission to abolish flights between cities if the link by a train offers an alternative solution with trips of fewer than 2,5 hours. When the measure was first announced, it was contested by the […]
December 02, 2022
Next year, Flemish Minister for Mobility and Public Works (Open Vld) will invest 2,3 billion euros in 815 projects. In all those projects, three keywords are involved: bicycle, safety, and sustainability. The largest part of the budget is destined for the Agency for Roads and Traffic (Agentschap Wegen en Verkeer, AWV) (€738 million) and the […]
December 01, 2022
The BMW Group has decided to share its technological expertise with the world. BMW opts for an open-access approach and hopes to start a dialogue with potential partners. The initiative shows an approach that has never been implemented in the automotive industry before. Global trend research allows the company to draw conclusions about future technological […]
November 30, 2022
Weather forecasters agree: we’re experiencing a ‘Dunkelflaute’. A period of cold and windless weather with a gray sky. As a result, solar panels and wind farms hardly produce any energy; consequently, in the last few days, energy prices have more than doubled. ‘Dunkelflaute’ (dark wind lull) events are characterized by a very dense cloud cover, […]
November 30, 2022
Applicants and young employees are still interested in a company car. That is what 68% of fleet and mobility managers confirmed in the new Company Car Report organized by Mobia, the mobility federation of Febiac, Traxio, and Renta. According to the questioned managers, 21% of youngsters have a neutral attitude toward the company car, and […]
November 29, 2022
Owners of an electric car who cannot install a charging point at home and don’t have one nearby can ask for a public charging station in the immediate surroundings of their home. Since September, citizens with an electric vehicle can file such a request via an e-counter. In the meantime, 437 citizens or companies applied. […]
November 28, 2022
In 2021, the quality of bikeways along the Flemish regional roads was better than in 2019. As a result, not only has the infrastructure improved, but the comfort for cyclists increased. That is the conclusion of the Agency for Roads and Traffic’s latest bicycle report. The ART (Agentschap Wegen en Verkeer, AWV) publishes a similar […]
November 25, 2022
Truck transport is massively polluting, and the emissions from transporting retail goods spike 94% during Black Friday week. However, there is a ready-made solution in the form of zero-emission trucks, the European environmental lobbying group Transport and Environment (T&E) says. Black Friday is notorious for peak consumerism and waste. Trucking retail goods is a dirty […]
November 24, 2022
The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published its recent ‘Air Quality in Europe 2022’ assessment, and the conclusion is not really reassuring. Although Europe’s air quality keeps on improving, air pollution still remains the largest environmental health risk in Europe, causing chronic diseases and premature deaths. According to the EEA, at least 238 000 people […]
November 23, 2022
Despite the popularity of teleworking and the reduced number of cars on Flemish roads compared to pre-corona times, traffic congestion is worse than ever. That flared up the debate on the introduction of a kilometer tax for passenger cars and vans in the Flemish Parliament. October 2022 was the second worst month regarding traffic jams […]
November 22, 2022
On Monday, November 21st, Elia Group welcomed Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld) and the Belgian Federal Minister of Energy, Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen) to visit the Baltic Eagle offshore transmission platform. The project is a joint responsibility of Spanish energy group Iberdrola and 50Hertz, German subsidiary of Belgian Elia. The offshore […]
November 21, 2022
Paris is considering banning its 15 000 free-floating shared electric scooters riding around in the French capital. Local authorities are concerned about public safety on the city’s sidewalks. Shared e-scooter providers Lime, Dott, and Tier, active in Paris’ city center, are promising a series of improvements, but whether their licenses will be renewed is a […]
November 18, 2022
Next year, the Belgian railway company NMBS/SNCB will introduce a new ‘silent’ reporting system for train travelers who feel unsafe. According to research, the feeling of insecurity among train travelers continues to increase. The new system is simple and discrete: travelers can simply ask for help by sending a text message to the permanence center […]
November 18, 2022
The Flemish government plans a new bicycle highway along the Brussels beltway between Vilvoorde and Strombeek-Bever. The new bikeway will be five kilometers long and connect several bicycle highways (F28 and F23, along the channel in Vilvoorde). The project fits in a larger-scale initiative to implement a total of 115 km of new bikeways connecting […]
November 17, 2022
The Agoria Solar Team, the student team of the KU Leuven, has succeeded in covering the longest distance in 12 hours with the solar car they developed. In 12 hours, the BluePoint Atlas, as their newest solar car is called, covered 1 051 kilometers, breaking the previous record of the Dutch Solar Team from Delft […]
November 17, 2022
This year, the Inter City Express (ICE) high-speed train connection between Belgium and Germany will celebrate its 20th birthday. In 2022, it will also transport a record number of more than one million passengers. On December 15th, 2002, the first ICE train rode between Brussels and Frankfurt. The ICE network is exploited by the German […]
