September 27, 2023
The widely spread ANPR cameras along Flemish roads in Belgium have caught 10 714 car drivers in traffic who didn’t pay the yearly road tax in 2022. They got an invoice for immediate payment and an additional €116 fine. Another 384 vehicles were towed away. That filled the Flemish government’s kitty with 5,4 million euros. […]
September 22, 2023
The British iconic MINI brand, which saw the light of day in 1959 and rebirth under the wings of BMW since 2000, is launching itself into electric bicycles ahead of becoming a fully electric car brand itself. It partnered with the French start-up Angell Mobility, founded by Marc Simoncini, to bring two exclusive connected e-bikes […]
September 22, 2023
After being introduced in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and the Netherlands, the Chinese luxury brand Hongqi, the ‘Royal Warrant Holder’ to Chinese President Xi Jinping, will cross the Belgian border in October. The first model on sale is Hongqi’s E-HS9, a large six or seven-seat SUV with 551 horsepower and a range of up to […]
September 21, 2023
Toyota, an official sponsor of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024, will deploy a fleet of 500 of its Mirai hydrogen cars as part of the official fleet to ferry athletes and officials between the different sports venues. The Mirai fleet will be refueled with hydrogen from renewable sources provided by French hydrogen specialist […]
September 20, 2023
At the second Mobility Stakeholders Day of the Belgian mobility federation Mobia on Tuesday in Brussels, guest speaker professor Dave Sinardet made those ‘stakeholders’ face the facts that there is a considerable gap to be bridged between the sector and the general public when it comes to the importance of everyday mobility issues and the […]
September 19, 2023
In The Netherlands, considered one of Europe’s most advanced countries in EV adoption, the enthusiasm to switch to an electric car seems lower than expected. After nine months, the subsidy pot of 100 million euros still has 43 million left. In former years, that subsidy pot was generally plundered by the end of May. Only […]
September 18, 2023
Lithium is indispensable in today’s rechargeable batteries, from smartphones to EV batteries. With demand expected to grow exponentially over the following decades, every discovery of lithium reserves makes headline news. Even in Belgium, where lithium is found in brine pumped up from 1 000 to 3 000 meters deep for a geothermic heat-distribution grid. Experts […]
September 15, 2023
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s statement on Wednesday that the EU is to launch an investigation into China’s state support for makers of electric vehicles was brushed away by the Chinese government as ‘naked protectionist behavior.’ One that von der Leyen’s home car industry fears will backfire in a Chinese market they desperately […]
September 14, 2023
Volvo Trucks announced on Thursday it has finally kicked off serial production of heavy battery electric trucks up to 44 tons in its Ghent factory in Belgium. That is Volvo Trucks’ largest production site with a yearly capacity of around 45 000 trucks. The electric trucks are assembled on the same platform and line as […]
September 14, 2023
After adding Stellantis-dealer Vandecasteele Group in Kortrijk, Chinese carmaker BYD (Build Your Dreams) is expanding to Hasselt as its fifth dealership in Belgium, under the wings of Renault-Dacia specialist Paesmans Auto Group. The Chinese carmaker is looking for five more dealerships in Belgium and Luxembourg. BYD, China’s biggest EV maker, is imported by international car […]
September 13, 2023
Californian EV start-up Fisker is ramping up production of its Fisker Ocean One EV at Magna Steyr in Austria from 180 to 300 per day, the company announces. So far, 3 123 customer vehicles have been built, but by the end of September, 5 000 is the target. All these Ocean One launch editions have […]
September 12, 2023
Allego, founded in 2013 in the Netherlands as part of grid operator Alliander and now a pan-European EV network with 34 000 chargers, says it is finally phasing out CHAdeMO chargers as only 4,12% of EVs today are still equipped with the Japanese system. Only the Nissan Leaf and the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV are still […]
September 12, 2023
Dutch fast-charger network Fastned has signed its first contract in Italy with highway managing A4 Holding Group to build a large charging station along the A4 Brescia – Padova highway in northern Italy, close to the Brescia Est exit. It’s the 8th European country where Fastned has established its presence. Fastned already operates 275 fast […]
September 11, 2023
From all the foreign brands eager to conquer the European market, Seres, the American-Chinese manufacturer from the same group as DFSK, is the odd man out, focusing on lesser-known local dealerships to import and market their EVs overseas. That often translates into ‘under-exposure’ compared to other Chinese brands investing in direct sales or using established […]
September 07, 2023
Frenchman Pierre Voineau is the new Director General at Citroën Belux, the Stellantis Group Belgium – Luxembourg announced in a press release. Voineau, who was Product and Business Development Director at Renault’s Software République from November 2021 till now, replaces Damien Martin-Cocher, who joined in January 2021 and moves on within the group. According to […]
September 05, 2023
While all eyes are focused on the IAA in Munich, Toyota’s Hilux hydrogen pickup was revealed on Tuesday at Toyota Manufacturing UK’s vehicle plant in Derby, England. As expected, the technology comes from the Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell electric sedan. “Technology that has proved its quality in almost ten years of commercial production,” the […]
September 04, 2023
For BMW, the IAA in Münich is some home match and now is the time to show the world a glimpse of its (electric) future, with a wink to its heritage: the BMW Vision Neue Klasse. It shows how the successor of BMW’s most successful model, the 3-Series, might look when it arrives in 2025. […]
September 04, 2023
At the beginning of August, Chinese Zeekr, the sister brand of Lynk & Co, announced that it would launch a hypercar version of its Zeekr 001, shooting brake at around one million Chinese yuan or 140.000 dollars. Now the curtain is lifted, it turns out to be pure muscles with 1 265 horsepower (943 kW) […]
September 01, 2023
The Biden administration is making up to $12 billion available to the American car industry to fund the conversion of their factories for producing battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and hybrid vehicles to comply with the goal of half of new cars sold being electric by 2030. “This funding will help existing workers keep their jobs […]
August 31, 2023
South Korean carmaker Kia is launching its EV5 compact SUV in China at a record-low price of 159 800 yuan, some 20 000 euros, Korean media write. That’s way below Tesla’s budget Model Y, a ‘price breaker’ that starts at 263 900 yuan (€33 245). Kia said it would launch the EV5 first in China […]
August 30, 2023
Wallonia has almost finalized mapping out the EV stations needed for its 262 communities, Le Soir writes on Monday: 2.448 access points capable of at least two EVs charging simultaneously at 11 kW. The Walloon Region allocates €15 million in subsidies and prepares a tender to realize these public charging stations in the next two […]
August 29, 2023
BYD Co Ltd (Build Your Dreams), China’s best-selling EV brand, has tripled its net profit for the third quarter with a 6.82 billion yuan total (€0,86 billion) or a 144.7% increase. That’s impressive again, thanks to record deliveries but less than the first quarter, where profits fivefolded. BYD sold 612 425 battery-only EVs in the […]
August 28, 2023
The first batch of Zeekr 001s, one of the two models available yet for Europe, has set sail for the Netherlands from the port of Taicang, China, to be delivered to customers in Q4 of this year. The new Swedish-Chinese Zeekr, a sister brand of Lynk & Co and Volvo, can already be ordered in […]
August 28, 2023
Belgium’s fourth biggest insurer, Ethias, announced in June it is entering the volatile market of leasing electric cars with a helping hand from Spanish specialist Banco Santander. The European Competition Authority now gives the green light for the merger with the Dutch daughter of the Spanish bank, Santander Consumer Leasing BV, as it sees no […]
August 26, 2023
German carmaker BMW further invests in its production of electric vehicles and adds a new logistics center for handling high-voltage battery packs to its Leipzig factory, where its first electric vehicle, the BMW i3 is phased out in July 2022. The MINI Countryman crossover is the following fully electric model to be built there. Today, […]
August 25, 2023
Volkswagen announced on Friday it opened pre-sales for its new flagship EV, the ID.7, at a price under 60k, that is €56 995 for the model in the Pro specification package with a range of up to 621 kilometers (WLTP). The first deliveries are expected before the end of the year. The ID.7 sedan is […]
August 24, 2023
Following sister-brand Lynk & Co’s wake, Volvo Car Belux and ALD/LeasePlan are giving the subscription model a tryout in Belgium by offering private individuals a personal lease contract for a popular Volvo XC40 – and only that one – which can be canceled after one month. More details are released after inquiry while Volvo Cars […]
August 23, 2023
In China, a car blogger has posted on microblogging website Weibo a series of pictures of a new heavily camouflaged NIO model that allegedly would be the first of the pristine sub-brand Alps. That brand is one of two – the other being Firefly – NIO wants to position in a price range under its […]
August 21, 2023
Cruise, the daughter of General Motors specializing in autonomous vehicles, started offering a paid robotaxi service in San Francisco but now agreed to reduce its fleet by 50% while the California Department of Motor Vehicles (CDMV) is investigating some bizarre and dangerous incidents. Just a few days ago, after months of debate, California’s Public Utilities […]
August 18, 2023
Dutch fast-charging company Fastned begins to see its vast investment efforts bear fruit, saying it hit a significant financial milestone during the first half of 2023, with the underlying company EBITDA reaching €2,8 million. By the end of June, it opened 28 new stations this year alone, adding to its network of 272 spread over […]
August 17, 2023
On Wednesday, the world’s biggest EV battery maker, Chinese CATL, presented its newest LFP battery named ‘Shenxing’, offering economical fast charging of 400 kilometers of extra range in only ten minutes and a total range of 700 km. CATL says it found the perfect balance of long-range and easy refueling, with EV charging taking no […]
August 16, 2023
After completing their previously announced ‘business combination’, the SPAC merger between Vietnamese VinFast and the already listed shell company Black Spade Acquisition, shares peaked at $37 on Tuesday after being $22 initially. This instantly made VinFast leapfrogging Ford and General Motors for the time being. These high share prices would value the Vietnamese carmaker around […]
August 15, 2023
Californian electric air taxi developer Archer Aviation has secured airworthiness certification from the FAA to start the homologation testing for its Midnight eVTOL air taxi. It got another $210 million fresh capital boost from big fellows like United Airlines, Boeing, and carmaker Stellantis, with the latter actually helping to build it, in a brand-new factory […]
August 11, 2023
Christian Koenigsegg, the founder, and CEO of the Swedish hypercar manufacturer bearing his name, producing some of the world’s most expensive sportscars, recently admitted he’s constantly looking for “a reason for electric hypercars to exist” as EVs are closing in on performances. And now Zeekr gives him and the whole hypercar-elite another reason to worry. […]
August 11, 2023
New global safety regulations that will soon come into effect reportedly force Ford to postpone its European-built all-electric Explorer SUV by about six months into 2024. Production of the new Explorer, unveiled in March 2023, was initially planned to start at the newly opened Electric Vehicle Center in Cologne (Germany) after the summer holidays. According […]
August 10, 2023
Dutch fast-charging company Fastned is tempting EV drivers heading on vacation to the South of France with free ice cream at its Belgian Ardennes station at Baraque de Fraiture in Vielsalm. Be there between 12 to 4 p.m. on ‘Red Saturday’ August 12th, to lick the free sweets. The Fastnet charging station is located at […]
August 10, 2023
There were 322 automobile assembly, engine, and battery production plants in Europe, up from 301 in 2021, according to the latest figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). Of these, 213 are in the EU, an increase of 19 from 194 in 2021. These totals comprise 127 car factories, 44 for vans, 56 for […]
August 09, 2023
A new Spanish operator, Surcar Airlines Hidroaviones, is planning to retrofit Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter seaplanes with ZeroAvia’s 600kW ZA600 fuel cell engines to enable zero-emission sightseeing flights in the Canary Islands. It signed an agreement for this with British-American start-up ZeroAvia. ZeroAvia just announced the completion of its initial prototype ZA600 flight testing […]
August 07, 2023
American electric and fuel cell truckmaker Nikola keeps on sailing through stormy waters. Its third CEO in a row, Michael Lohscheller, the ex-boss of Opel in a former life, is stepping down immediately ‘for family reasons’ and returning to Europe. From there, he will stay on as an ‘advisor’ to assist CEO number four, until […]
August 04, 2023
At Zeekr’s plant in Ningbo, Zhejiang province in China, the first model of the shooting brake 001 destined for Europe has rolled off the assembly lines. The first batch is expected to be shipped to Europe from the port of Taicang in mid-August, with first deliveries this year. The new Swedish-Chinese Zeekr, a sister brand […]
August 03, 2023
Leasys, the new pan-European operational leasing company created by French Crédit Agricole’s daughter CA Consumer Finance and car manufacturer Stellantis has finalized the takeover of the operations of ALD Automotive and LeasePlan in Luxembourg and Portugal. This way, an additional 30 000 vehicles are added to their jointly managed fleet, now totaling 828 000. The […]
August 02, 2023
Italian design house Pininfarina Automobili shows its latest design study, the PURA Vision, as a guideline for a so-called electric Luxury Utility Vehicle (LUV) of the future. It will be shown at the Monterey Car Week later in August, next to the Battista Edizione Nino Farina hyper GT. Still, any technical specifications or a commitment […]
August 01, 2023
Stellantis Group has completed its 33,3% purchase in entering the capital of French fuel cell specialist Symbio, already a supplier of hydrogen systems for the group’s utility vehicles. The current shareholders, automotive supplier Faurecia and tire giant Michelin announced in December last year the start of negotiations with Stellantis. “Acquiring an equal stake in Symbio […]
July 31, 2023
Last Friday, the Vietnamese car manufacturer held the groundbreaking ceremony of its electric vehicle factory in Chatham County, North Carolina, its first car plant in the US. It should produce 150 000 cars annually in phase 1 and employ some 7 500 workers by 2025. The planned $4 billion investment was reeled in by North […]
July 31, 2023
Five years after 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg was killed, hit by a Uber self-driving car in Tempe, Arizona, the human driver, Rafaela Vasquez, was convicted by a court and sentenced to three years of supervised probation without imprisonment. Eventually, Vasques pleaded guilty to endangerment, avoiding the prison she feared most. Initially, Vasquez was charged with ‘negligent […]
July 28, 2023
Chinese premium carmaker NIO is to open on August 8th its first ‘NIO HUB’ in the Netherlands, at a central point in Breukelen (Utrecht) near the A2 highway where all sales, delivery & return services are bundled. As an attention-seeker, NIO is showing exclusively for Europe the EP9 sportscar that established the track record for […]
July 27, 2023
BMW has launched a new test site for highly automated driving up to level 4 and self-parking in Sokolov, in the former mining region of Karlovarský in Czechia. The ‘Future Mobility Development Center’ (FMDC) was built on 600 hectares of a former surface mine site with 2.2 million cubic meters of recycled soil previously excavated. The […]
July 26, 2023
One of British best-known climate activists and industrialists and founder of Ecotricity, the ‘world’s first green energy company’, unveiled plans to launch by 2024 the ‘first electric airline powered by renewable energy’. Ecojet, as the new airline is called, will operate planes converted to hydrogen fuel cells by 2025 from Edinburgh to start, expanding through […]
July 25, 2023
The spoiled rich kid’s ultimate toy car, a fully electric 75% scaled replica of the famous Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, now has its grown-up configurator in 3D augmented reality. The Little Car Company offers your son or daughter “complete creative freedom to design their very own specification, from choosing a livery to their taste to […]
July 24, 2023
It’s going further downhill with the French hydrogen car fairy tale of racing pilot Olivier Lombard, the Hopium Māchina that once was called the ‘French Tesla of hydrogen’ by the former Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari. The Paris court granted the start-up a judicial recovery procedure for six months, eventually to be extended to twelve. In […]
July 21, 2023
The Dutch geodata specialist Cyclomedia has finished digitizing the whole of Belgium in 360° ‘street view’ high-definition images. It enables one to visit any street in the country virtually and measure distances and building dimensions without physically going there – an asset they sell to public instances and private companies. Using a fleet of nine […]
July 19, 2023
The Flemish government decided to slack off the future ban on Euro 2 gasoline cars and Euro 5 diesel cars in the Low-Emission Zones of Antwerp and Gent, the sole cities in Flanders that actually have a LEZ besides Brussels. Initially due to be effective from January 1st, 2025, the ban will be postponed by […]
July 18, 2023
According to an official Tesla tweet, the ‘first Cybertruck’ electric pickup was built at the Texas gigafactory this week. Whether that means the company is ahead of production schedule or this is, just a first unit to fine-tune upcoming volume production isn’t clear. Normally, the first deliveries were scheduled for ‘around the end of the […]
July 17, 2023
British Ineos Automotive, the global chemical giant’s daughter, debuted at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (GFS), the hydrogen demonstration version of its Landrover Defender-clone, the Grenadier. The Grenadier Demonstrator got BMW’s latest fuel cell technology as used for the iX5 Hydrogen. After ‘rigorous offroad testing’ in the Austrian mountains, the Grenadier Demonstrator proved capable of […]
July 14, 2023
German automotive supplier Robert Bosch GmbH has started mass production of fuel cell engines at its Stuttgart-Feuerbach factory, one of the ‘oldest’ of the group’s numerous factories worldwide. The first fuel power modules are going to American electric truck startup Nikola, whose Class 8 hydrogen truck should come to the US market in the third […]
July 13, 2023
The Dutch ‘flying car’ PAL-V Liberty, currently undergoing an extensive test program to prepare for serial production and homologation for Europe next year, has seduced Austrian aviation specialist Primus Aero to buy the first five of a whole fleet of them for its mobile service teams. At what price wasn’t unveiled. The PAL-V Liberty can […]
July 13, 2023
Eventually, it was to become Lynk & Co’s first fully electric model. Still, after reconsideration, it was labeled ‘too good’ to resist the temptation to put it on the market as a new premium brand: the Zeekr 001. Not to be expected this year in Belgium, but ready for Sweden and the Netherlands, we got […]
July 10, 2023
Dutch contract car manufacturer Nedcar says it has signed a new declaration of intent with a new non-disclosed client to assemble or build cars again in Born near the Belgian border from 2026 on. That would provide 3 000 jobs in the de long term. But het 1 800 lay-offs scheduled in November this year […]
July 10, 2023
Two years after the full-electric CE 04 ‘kicked off BMW Motorrad’s electric urban mobility future, there is a new full-electric sibling on two wheels: the CE 02 eParkourer. The bike, with its chassis with a double-loop tube frame, telescopic forks, single-sided swingarm, and cast light alloy wheels, looks somewhat like an oversized fat bike. Created […]
July 06, 2023
Nissan has launched in the United Kingdom a flexible subscription service featuring a simple all-in-one monthly payment for its EVs, Leaf, and Ariya, and the hybrid Qashqai e-POWER, with 800 miles (1 287 km) per month included. But it doesn’t always come as a bargain. Prices start as ‘low’ as £645/mth (€755) for the Leaf […]
