December 01, 2021
Imagine over 20 000 half pallets of cargo per hour per direction flashing through vacuum tubes along the A4 highway between Amsterdam and Rotterdam at up to 700 km/hour. At the same time, trucks shuffle along on the asphalt besides. “In 2030, when the Cargo Hyperloop Holland corridor will be completed as the first hyperloop […]
November 29, 2021
An electric (company) car is still on average 50% more expensive than its sibling with an internal combustion engine (ICE), says HR-service bureau Acerta, but in Total Cost of Ownership (TOC), that’s not the case. Employers are raising their company car policies to allow higher list prices. Acerta bases its findings on a survey with […]
November 29, 2021
Using geofencing technology and GPS, BMW lets its plug-in hybrids switch to zero-emission pure electric drive automatically when possible in so-called ‘eDrive Zones’. These zones are extended to 138 European cities today, and BMW will add another 30 next year. BMW plug-in hybrid drivers get ‘ bonus points’ for ChargeNow credits for each all-electric kilometer […]
November 26, 2021
Belgian telecom operator Proximus has started a pilot project in Mechelen to remodel old phone distribution boxes in the streets into EV charging stations. As these typical grey plastic boxes get partly obsolete due to the new fiberglass network, this conversion is quite easy to do after upgrading the power supply to 400 Volts. The […]
November 25, 2021
How to choose between two twins? Not identical, but both beauties in their own style. We drove the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 both for a week long. Technically, it’s a close draw. So it will come to design, personal taste, and how much you want to pay for the must-have options. What’s clear […]
November 25, 2021
Nissan Belgium is withdrawing from the Brussels Motor Show (BMS), scheduled from 14 till 23 January 2022. In a short statement on Wednesday, Nissan said it acknowledges the organizer Febiac’s efforts to limit the risks of Covid-19 during the show but decided nevertheless to cancel its participation to minimize the risk for its employees, suppliers, […]
November 25, 2021
Dutch EV charging network specialist Allego and its parent company, the Paris-based global infrastructure investor Meridiam have concluded the first phase in financing the roll-out of 2 000 EV-chargers. They will be ranging from 22 kW AC and 75 to 300 kW DC and will be deployed at 200 of Carrefour’s hypermarkets in France. AssetCo […]
November 24, 2021
Ionity, the jointly owned fast-charging network of BMW, Ford, Hyundai-KIA, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Porsche, will more than quadruple the number of chargers from 1 526 today to 7 000 in 24 countries by 2025. That will include new High Power Charging (HPC) stations with 6-12 charging points. Ionity says it plans to acquire its own […]
November 23, 2021
In Norway, the world’s first fully electric and autonomous sailing container ship Yara Birkeland has successfully completed its maiden trip last week under human surveillance, but without help. The short 7,5 nautical mile trip (13,7 km) offered several challenges like maneuvering out of a small fjord, avoiding other commercial ships, pleasure craft, and kayaks. The […]
November 23, 2021
It looks like the success of the Lynk & Co month-to-month (M2M) subscription model is starting to work as an ice-breaker to open up new possibilities for the car subscription market. Leasys, a subsidiary of the FCA Bank and part of the Stellantis group, just adapted its Be Free EVO offer in Italy, giving the […]
November 22, 2021
At the Los Angeles Motor show in its hometown, American electric carmaker Fisker presented its now production-ready version of the Ocean SUV last week, in three flavors and starting at $37 499 before incentives. For that price, you’ll get the basic two-wheel-drive Sport with a 200 kW (268 hp) engine and an estimated EPA range […]
November 22, 2021
Mattel’s world-famous doll for decades, Barbie gets her own electric sportscar, as shown on the LA Motor Show last week. It is a full-size two-seat convertible designed to promote Mattel’s range of fashion dolls and accessories, build on the Fiat 500e underpinnings, thus delivering 111 hp and a range of 160 km. The Barbie Extra […]
November 19, 2021
Incorporated into the Green Energy Park project in the Zellik Research Park near the Brussels Ring, Smart Village Lab is a living university lab to jointly test the energy use of the future with the industry. Flemish Minister for Innovation Hilde Crevits (CD&V) got the honor to push the virtual start button on Thursday. At […]
November 18, 2021
US startup Ample is targetting Europe to introduce its battery-swapping technology through an extended partnership with Uber. The ride-hailing company wants to have half of the kilometers driven in seven capital cities in Europe to be electric by 2025. That includes London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, and Lisbon. Ample’s fully automated battery swapping stations […]
November 18, 2021
Belgian bus and tour car maker Van Hool has presented the TDX25E Astromega, its first double-deck coach, targeted to the US market. It offers a range of 500 km for 69 passengers, 18 on the lower deck, 51 on the upper deck. Apparently, demand for double-deck coaches is nowhere as high as in America. The […]
November 17, 2021
It looks like Californian start-up Canoo is questioning its planned production start in 2022 for its Lifestyle EV at Dutch contract manufacturer VDL Nedcar in Born (Netherlands), close to the Belgian border. CEO Tony Aquila favors speeding up the build of its Oklahoma factory over the risks associated with a contract manufacturer. According to Dutch […]
November 15, 2021
The charging cable risking to overheat when too much electricity is pushed through it is the limiting factor why charging an electric car takes so long today. Ford says its researchers are working with the US Purdue University on new patent-pending technology for a charging cable that uses liquid phase change cooling to handle 2 […]
November 12, 2021
Dutch fast-charging network operator Fastned is raising prices by 17% to compensate for the peaking electricity prices. In practice, EV drivers will now pay €0,69 per kWh in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. For an extra 100 km range, the price goes up from €11,04 to €13,04 maximum. These maximum prices apply for ‘Pay-as-you-Go’ for […]
November 10, 2021
Daimler Truck and French oil giant TotalEnergies have signed an agreement to jointly kick start the rollout of hydrogen infrastructure and heavy-duty trucks in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, and France. Daimler wants its hydrogen trucks deployed fully on the road at customers by 2025, and TotalEnergies has the ambition by 2030 to operate directly […]
November 10, 2021
BMW Motorrad has started in Berlin the serial production of its all-electric maxiscooter CE 04, both in the consumer version as the police version. “All future new models from BMW Motorrad in the area of urban mobility will be 100% electric,” confirms Markus Schramm, Head of BMW Motorrad. For a starting price of 12 490 […]
November 09, 2021
The Greek government has finally thought its climate plans through and is joining the leading group of European countries to ban the sales of new ICE cars already in 2030, five years ahead of what is currently on the EU Commission’s table. Second-hand cars are not affected. In 2025 Greece wants all new taxis in […]
November 08, 2021
According to the Bloomberg news agency, electronics giant Apple has hired another high-ranking Tesla engineer for its Titan project; former AutoPilot software director Christopher ‘CJ’ Moore. As always, Apple declines to comment on its plans for a self-driving car. Moore will work under Stuart Bowers, another Tesla exec, who served as vice president of engineering […]
November 08, 2021
Antwerp Port and Zeebrugge Port will set up a hydrogen import logistic chain with Chile. Belgium’s major ports who decided earlier this year to merge into Port Antwerp-Bruges signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this in Glasgow. Belgium will also import green hydrogen from Oman and Namibia. At the COP26 in Glasgow, Belgian Federal […]
November 04, 2021
Dutch oil giant Shell, Swedish energy provider Vattenfall, and Scandinavia’s leading airline SAS announced to jointly study the possibilities to produce 50 000 tons of electrofuel for aviation, made from green hydrogen and CO2, captured from a district heating facility. With full production up and running, SAS could provide up to 25 percent of its […]
November 03, 2021
On Wednesday, Volkswagen has unwrapped its newest siblings in the EV range, the SUV coupé ID.5 and the sporty variant with dual motors and all-wheel drive, the ID.5 GTX. Jozef Kabaň, Head of Volkswagen Design, believes this sleek coupé-like SUV “is the body style of the future: aerodynamic, expressive, sporty and, thanks to MEB, with […]
November 03, 2021
Volvo’s sister brand Lynk & Co, just celebrating its fifth anniversary two weeks ago, is struggling to keep all of its 30 000 – or even 50 000 – ‘club members’ in Europe happy and tackle software problems that may differ in different countries. And every day, some 150 to 200 additional members are signing […]
November 03, 2021
On 16 November, Renault will present to the public the new fully electric version of its popular compact van, baptized ‘Kangoo Van E-TECH Electric’. An upgraded battery of actual usable 45 kWh extends its range to 300 km (WLTP). That’s roughly 100 km more than the current Kangoo Z.E. with a 33 kWh battery. Since […]
November 02, 2021
Tesla is opening up a number of its Superchargers in the Netherlands to third parties as a test for the rest of Europe. The ‘non-Tesla Supercharger pilot project’ allows other car brands to access the chargers via the Tesla app if the car is registered in the Netherlands. According to Tesla, the pilot is limited […]
November 02, 2021
Next year, an additional 250 public charging stations of 7,4 or 11 kW, accommodating two e-cars simultaneously, will be installed in the Brussels Capital Region, on top of the 944 ones that are active today. The Brussels Minister for Climate Transition, Environment, and Energy, Alain Maron (ECOLO), announced the latter on Tuesday. The goal is […]
October 29, 2021
Stellantis has presented a new generation of Fiat vans and a ‘reborn’ Multi-Purpose Van (MPV), a people carrier with familiar names: Scudo and Ulysses. They’ll come with a classic ICE (diesel) powertrain, but also as a fully electric (BEV) alternative. Both vans will be built on Stellantis’ EMP2 platform that it already uses for the […]
October 28, 2021
British-American start-up in hydrogen-powered aviation, ZeroAvia, has signed an agreement with Dutch aviation partners to realize a zero-emission one-hour flight route with a 19-seat airplane on hydrogen between London and The Hague Airport (RTHA) in Rotterdam. ZeroAvia and Royal Schiphol Group say they’re in advanced talks with airlines to exploit the new route. Targeted for […]
October 27, 2021
British global chemical company, Ineos, a specialist in producing ‘low-carbon’ hydrogen, is working on a hydrogen demonstration version of its Landrover Defender-clone, the Grenadier, for road testing by the end of 2022. The latter will most likely get a Hyundai Nexo fuel cell and will be co-engineered by automotive specialist AVL. First, the basic ICE-powered […]
October 26, 2021
German carmaker Mercedes-Benz opened on Tuesday ordering for the plug-in version of its new C-Class, the C300e sedan, and estate. The latter offers a fully electric autonomy of more than 110 km (WLTP). Prices, VAT of 19% included in Germany, start at €56 168 and €57 953 respectively. But Germans can get a €5 625 […]
October 26, 2021
Rising again from the ashes after bankruptcy, international car rental company Hertz has ordered 100 000 Tesla Model 3s to make 20% of its fleet electric and offer the largest EV rental fleet in the US. The Teslas will be available from November in selected cities in the US and Europe. The complete order should […]
October 25, 2021
With 309 239 battery-electric (BEV) and 239 733 plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) sold, electric is overtaking diesel (414 179) for the first time in sales in Q3 in Europe. The latter is shown by the latest figures from EU car manufacturers federation ACEA for the EU, the UK, and Norway, Switzerland and Iceland combined. In […]
October 25, 2021
The Stellantis group will set up a second giga-battery factory in the US, this time with South Korean Samsung SDI as a partner. Both partners announced they signed a memorandum of understanding to set up a new joint venture for this. Targeted to start in 2025, the plant aims to have an initial annual production […]
October 22, 2021
It’s blazing fast, despite its two tons and 200 kg of weight, and surprisingly sleek with its lowered black rooftop. Just two weeks after the first production model rolled from the assembly line in the Ghent factory, we drove it on Belgian roads, Volvo’s second fully electric offspring: the C40. Twin engines, suitable for 2 […]
October 21, 2021
Lynk & Co, Volvo’s sister brand under the Geely umbrella, celebrates its 5th birthday since the initial announcement on October 20th, 2016, and claims to do that with 27 000 ‘club members’ in Europe. That’s 18 000 more than targeted initially when it opened its first club in Amsterdam in October last year to present […]
October 21, 2021
LeasePlan’s latest Car Cost Index 2021 is confirming what some carmaker’s bosses are saying recently: already today, electric cars are cost-competitive or cheaper than their peers with an internal combustion engine (ICE). Plug-in hybrids are almost always the worst-case scenario, but that’s something you’ll seldom hear. According to LeasePlan, that’s the case in Belgium, and […]
October 20, 2021
Stellantis will roll out a network of 15 000 EV public charging locations across Europe, open to everyone, but with extra benefits for Stellantis customers. Targets are specific city centers, public institutions, like hospitals, transport hubs, or retailers, hotels, and restaurants with a total of two million parking spaces. To do that by 2025, it […]
October 15, 2021
British rock band Coldplay wants its Music of the Spheres world tour to be as sustainable as possible and got the backup of BMW, providing a power source of forty partly recycled i3 batteries to store the show’s green electricity. In August 2022, they will be playing in Brussels. Solar tiles will be installed on […]
October 14, 2021
Logistics company Luik Natie has installed at its site in the Antwerp Waasland Harbor the first Tesla Megapack storage battery in the country. A container-sized Tesla Megapack is a lithium-ion battery stationary energy storage that can store up to 3 megawatt-hours of energy. The one in Antwerp has a capacity of 1,2 MWh. It’s used […]
October 14, 2021
HYVIA, the joint venture between Renault and Plug Power, has unveiled its first prototypes of the Renault Master van on hydrogen. The latter, due for delivery in 2022, will have a range of approximately 500 km. The Renault Master H2-Tech gets a 30 kW fuel cell, a 33 kWh battery, and four tanks of 1,5 […]
October 13, 2021
Cupra, Seat’s performance brand, will be present at the Brussels Motor Show (BMS) from 14 till 23 January 2022, the Belgian importer D’Ieteren announced on Wednesday. It will be the only brand of the D’Ieteren portfolio, as it represents Cupra, Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Porsche, Seat, Lamborghini, Bugatti, and Bentley in Belgium. D’Ieteren announced earlier not […]
October 12, 2021
Ford Belgium has invited some fifty senior citizens to go into a skid and sharpen their driving skills with modern cars on a Safe Drive Training for 65+, at Ford’s Lommel Proving Ground. It’s somewhat similar to Ford’s worldwide Driving Skills program for young drivers, but this time for golden-agers. And the seniors, they loved […]
October 12, 2021
Dutch charging station specialist Allego is expanding its cooperation with Van der Valk hotel group to install 60 ultra-fast chargers ranging from 150kW to 300kW at 50 hotels in the Netherlands and Belgium. EV drivers with time and patience can enjoy a more extended stay to use one of the additional 100 AC 11kW chargers […]
October 11, 2021
Last nine months, one in five new cars registered in Belgium was ‘electrified’ in some way. In total, 21,8% were battery-electric (BEV), fuel cell (FCEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV), or a classic hybrid (HEV). That is merely due to the fleet market, which delivers the lion’s share of 80% of electric vehicles. Overall the market for […]
October 08, 2021
New details have emerged on the model offensive of Chinese-owned MG. The brand is updating its electric powertrains, introducing 11 kW charging, dropping the small battery of 45 kWh, and launching a new onboard connectivity system and style. The latter is applied to the facelift of the SUV ZS EV, which instigated the brand’s relaunch […]
October 08, 2021
Belgian entrepreneur Marc Coucke will invest in Dutch electric bus manufacturer Ebusco, which wants to raise €300 million by going public on the Amsterdam stock exchange. The news was broken on Thursday by several financial media. Ebusco, based in Deurne (Netherlands), has delivered 346 e-buses to seven EU countries so far, including Belgium. Multiobus in […]
October 07, 2021
On Thursday, Volvo Car Gent started producing Volvo’s second fully electric model, the C40 Recharge. The latter is a more streamlined crossover version of the XC40 Recharge that’s already built in Ghent. This one gets a 78 kWh battery, assumed to be enough for a 420-440 km range (WLTP). Volvo invited Belgian Prime Minister Alexander […]
October 07, 2021
At a two-day event for its investors, General Motors unveiled its plans to double its revenue with EVs and more services and software by 2030. In the field of technology, GM presented ‘Ultra Cruise’, enabling future Cadillac drivers to drive hands-free in 95% of traffic situations on two million miles of roads in the United […]
October 06, 2021
At the Aachen Colloquium Sustainable Mobility, Japanese giant Hitachi is showing these days its new lightweight direct–drive system for EVs that incorporates electromotor, inverter, and brake unit into a 19-inch wheel. It can be installed without significant changes to the existing suspension and other components, Hitachi says in a press release. By eliminating drive shafts […]
October 05, 2021
Nissan has started talks with possible buyers for its plants in Barcelona, Spain. Apparently, Belgian entrepreneur Guido Dumarey and his Punch Motive Group are not at the table among the ‘preferred negotiations’. Chinese Great Wall Motors is. The latter is interested in the biggest of the three plants in Barcelona. The two other sites could […]
October 05, 2021
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), grouping 290 airlines worldwide, has agreed on its yearly congress in Boston (US) to make aviation CO2-free by 2050. Experts fear it will be a gigantic task, as IATA targeted the last twelve years only to halve its CO2 emissions by that date, compared to 2005. The objectives are […]
October 05, 2021
Belgian bpost has ordered 400 new electric vans and will launch a tender by the end of this month for 800 more to be delivered before the end of 2022. The financial newspaper De Tijd broke the news on Saturday. Spokeswoman Veerle Van Mierlo told the newspaper the order is spread over different brands (Renault […]
October 04, 2021
Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, Apple’s primary contractor for making the iPhone, buys itself a car factory in the US. This particular case focuses on the former GM assembly factory in northeastern Ohio owned by electric pickup startup Lordstown Motors Corp. In financial turmoil for some time, Lordstown will get $230 million (€196 million) and Foxconn […]
October 04, 2021
Tesla has delivered 241 300 cars in the third quarter of this year. That’s 20% more than the second quarter (201 250), already a record in the American electric carmaker’s history. It is even a 73,2 % increase compared to the same quarter last year. And this, despite a declining market due to the worldwide […]
October 01, 2021
Swiss global technology company ABB claims it has the world’s fastest electric car charger with its new 360 kW capable Terra 360, enabling an EV to gain an extra 100 km of range in just three minutes. Or a full battery in some 15 minutes. Provided the car itself and its batteries can cope with […]
October 01, 2021
What to do with it when an EV’s battery comes to the end of its life cycle in the car? Give it a second life as a stationary battery to store electricity, use it in a smaller size in another vehicle, or recycle it? Audi Brussels developed BattMAN ReLife, a ‘health’ and software kit that […]
September 30, 2021
In Casa Grande, Arizona, the first Lucid Air electric sedans are rolling off the assembly line this week. The American startup claims it received more than 13 000 reservations for Lucid Air and has increased the planned total production quantity of the Dream Edition to 520 vehicles. In the US, customer deliveries will start by […]
