May 16, 2023
Nine years after the Dieselgate scandal ‘exploded’, Volkswagen and its Belgian importer D’Ieteren Auto are facing trial in Brussels in a class action initiated by consumer organization Test Aankoop/Test Achat (TA). According to TA, several trials abroad have proved enough that Volkswagen has used cheating software in its cars. D’Ieteren itself admitted 300 000 vehicles […]
May 10, 2023
Italian commercial vehicle manufacturer Iveco and American electric truck startup Nikola are going their own way from now, the first focussing on Europe, the other on its North American market. Iveco will assume full ownership of the joint venture in Ulm, Germany. Iveco Group acquires the JV partially by paying in cash ($35 million) and […]
May 10, 2023
Even after two days of an ‘official’ strike at VDL Nedcar in Born, the Dutch VDL Group still didn’t want to meet the union’s ultimatum to double the social plan, resulting in the unions extending the strike further on Wednesday and Thursday. According to the unions, willingness is high with the Nedcar workers to continue […]
May 09, 2023
When picking up the NIO ET7 in Amsterdam for a week-long test drive, it was apparent right from the first moment we stepped into the 5,1-meter sleek sedan this is not your average Chinese low-budget electric car. This one is conceived to be a luxurious ‘second living room’ on wheels, playing in the highest categories […]
May 08, 2023
HySun, a joint venture between Spanish companies Nanogap et Tewer Engineering, claims to be able to produce ‘white’ or ‘green’ hydrogen for one euro per kilogram or less by 2030 just by using solar energy. That would enable it to go under the price of ‘grey’ hydrogen produced from natural gas and used for 95% […]
May 05, 2023
In the second year of the C40 Recharge’s existence, Volvo created a brand-new, compact e-motor for it… and we saw that it was good. Developed in-house in Sweden, it makes its entry in the new rear-wheel drive 2024 versions of the XC40 and C40 Recharge, both manufactured in Ghent, Belgium. Newmobility.news got the opportunity to […]
May 03, 2023
The Belgian automotive sector is recovering, with new car registrations pushing the throttle by +40.38% compared to April last year. With 17 420 cars sold or 10,17% market share BWM is keeping its pursuers Volkswagen (14 681 or 8,57%) and Peugeot (12 897 or 7,36% ) in the rearview mirror. Mercedes hooks up fourth with […]
May 02, 2023
An electric taxi parking on a particular ‘hotspot’ and fast charging at 40 kW while waiting for the next customer. It’s already a concept proving in its first year the practical feasibility. No wires to plug in. Just park and charge for 30 minutes for an extra 100 km of range. Swedish carmaker Volvo has […]
April 26, 2023
At the European Demopark open-air exhibition for the green industry, Daimler Truck showcased a demonstrator prototype of its offroad truck, the Unimog, with a hydrogen combustion engine. This hydrogen Unimog based on the U 430 is part of the WaVe project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. This project […]
April 21, 2023
The battery-electric car (BEV) has rounded for the first time the cape of 15% market share in Belgium in the first quarter of 2023. The fully electric Tesla Model Y became the third most-sold car overall with 3 140 units, just after the Toyota Yaris (3 141) and the favorite of the Belgians, the ‘home-made’ […]
April 19, 2023
At the Shanghai Motor Show, Maserati is showcasing as a world’s first the fully electric version of its Grecale SUV, next to the GranTurismo Folgore coupé. ‘Folgore’ is the brand’s umbrella term for its electric model range, which will start rolling out in 2023. “The future of electrification is rooted in China,” says the Italian […]
April 17, 2023
The Dutch subsidiary of automotive supplier International Automotive Components (IAC) is the first victim of BMW withdrawing production of the MINI at VDL Nedcar in Born. According to Dutch media, the factory will close in February 2024, with 100 people losing their jobs. IAC Group, with headquarters in Luxembourg, is a global supplier of innovative […]
April 17, 2023
HiPhi, the young Chinese brand of the Human Horizons Group, is one step closer to launching in European markets. Its first model, the SUV called X, already for a while on sale in its homeland, completed TÜV SÜD testing in Germany successfully. The futuristic-looking Z sedan-GT and a compact SUV, called Y, just announced as […]
April 14, 2023
Group Renault has made a deal with battery manufacturer Verkor from Grenoble to buy the bulk – the equivalent of 12 GWh of a total capacity of 16 GWh – of its Dunkirk gigafactory’s production from 2025. That will allow Renault to equip between 130 000 and 200 000 electric vehicles annually. Renault Group is […]
April 13, 2023
A lot of Belgians still have cold feet when it comes to switching to an electric car, especially in the case of private cars. One in three is plainly negative toward EVs, and only one in four is willing to consider buying one in the next five years. Moreover, higher purchase prices and soaring energy […]
April 12, 2023
In Germany, Freudenberg e-Power Systems and the MEYER WERFT shipyard are working to equip a new 728-passenger cruise ship with a huge fuel cell and battery system that will support all the hotel functions of the ship, promising zero emissions. A world first, sponsored with €15,6 million by the German government. Now under construction in […]
April 11, 2023
To see it actually appear on European roads, we’ll have to wait until summer, but a limited number of international journalists got the opportunity to test some pre-production models of the new Chinese Aiways U6 on Portuguese roads. Newmobility.news took the challenge, and the U6 didn’t disappoint. Again, the Chinese prove they can give a […]
April 07, 2023
The hydrogen dream car of the 32-year-old French racing driver Olivier Lombard, the Hopium Māchina, is one step further away from becoming a reality by 2025, as the start-up is forced to find new money first by focussing on selling its state-of-the-art fuel cell technology to third parties. Hopium is splitting up into two entities, […]
April 06, 2023
The Belgian safety institute VIAS has confirmed with an independent study what several others, among which some leading leasing and HR service companies, claimed for more than a year: the electric car is the cheapest option today and in the long term compared to vehicles with a combustion engine (ICE). Except for the smallest city […]
April 05, 2023
Dutch solar carmaker Lightyear declared bankrupt by the court in January, has managed to find eight more million with mostly private investors, a group of 225 people around Amsterdam entrepreneur Arnoud Aalbersberg. Lightyear has announced the founding of a new company that will focus entirely on Lightyear 2. This might enable the company to reboot […]
April 03, 2023
It looks like, besides Zeekr, there is no end coming to Chinese EV brands that are targeting to land in Europe. HiPhi, the brand of the Human Horizons Group founded in 2018, will launch in some European markets later this year, a company executive told Reuters press agency. Today it sells the HiPhi X SUV […]
April 03, 2023
The Chinese luxury brand Zeekr, daughter of Geely Holding Group and sister brand to Volvo and Lynk & Co, among others, is having a crack at the European premium electric car market, starting in Q4 of this year. The latter was confirmed by the CEO An Conghui – also President of Geely – at the […]
March 31, 2023
Italian sports car icon Lamborghini is making its first steps into the world of electric cars by adding a plug to the successor of the Aventador, the Revuelto. The small 3,8 kWh battery is hardly sufficient for 10 km of full-electric autonomy. Still, it feeds three extra motors to boost the power of the 6.5 […]
March 31, 2023
Lotus Technology Inc., the heritage of the famous British racing brand part of Chinese Geely, has delivered the first fully electric Lotus Eletre, a hyper-SUV, to Chinese customers at the Shanghai International Circuit F1 track to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the brand. The company is now rolling out further deliveries across China and will […]
March 31, 2023
Last month, Belgium rounded the cape of 100 000 EVs on the road, says EV Belgium, the federation of zero-emission vehicles in Belgium. They assume that number will be pushed this year to 200 000 and up to half a million by 2025, driven by the coming obligation that all new company cars beyond 2026 […]
March 30, 2023
Dutch fast-charging provider Fastned has nearly tripled its charging turnover by 191% to €36,0 million, providing 2,3 million load sessions at 244 charging stations (+30%). Nevertheless, the company is still writing in red with a €22,2 million loss in 2022, compared to €24,6 million in 2021. The EBITDA went up by 244% to 8,1 million. […]
March 29, 2023
American electric carmaker Fisker is ready to launch its first model, the Ocean SUV, in Europe after concluding European homologation from authorities by April 28, 2023, with first deliveries after that. The top model, the Fisker Ocean Extreme, listed at $68 999 and ready to be configured online from now, just proved to reach a […]
March 28, 2023
Brussels-based car importer and distributor D’Ieteren Automotive is setting up a distribution and service network to launch the Swiss-Italian Microlino electric car by summer in France. Besides Belgium and France, D’Ieteren is also the distributor of the microcar in Luxembourg. In France, the Microlino belongs to the L7 vehicle class and is available to holders […]
March 27, 2023
German Targobank’s yearly Car Study, a survey conducted by survey institute Forsa, shows that the average German is again increasingly falling back on gasoline cars rather than an electric one when considering buying a new car. The tendency is quite apparent: 30% would prioritize it, compared to 22% the year before. The eagerness to switch […]
March 24, 2023
An extensive survey conducted by Europe’s largest leasing company, ALD Automotive, with +1 500 lease car drivers, shows the Dutch EV driver (69%) is slowly getting cured of his ‘range anxiety’, the fear of getting stuck with an empty battery. But ICE drivers persist in their delusion. Most EV drivers (79%) are positive about the […]
March 23, 2023
French Air Liquide announces it will construct an industrial-scale pilot cracker in the Port of Antwerp to convert ammonia (NH3) into hydrogen (H2). The new plant, scheduled to be operational by 2024, will be a crucial stepstone transporting green energy from sunny regions worldwide over the oceans to Europe, a key enabler of the energy […]
March 22, 2023
They have been working silently since 2016 in the Turkish part of Cyprus on their own electric car, named after the professor whose dream was to become a car manufacturer: the Günsel brand. On February 20, 2020, the first prototypes of the fully electric Günsel B9, a two-door hatchback, were launched. Now the company says […]
March 21, 2023
German provider Miles Mobility landed on Tuesday in Antwerp with a fleet of 100 shared cars, all VW Polos and Audi to start. After Ghent, its Belgian introduction, Miles started running a fleet of 100 Opel Corsa models in the capital. With three footholds in Belgium now, one-way trips between the three cities and the […]
March 20, 2023
DAF Trucks has raked in a significant order for 1 500 trucks, among which at least 75 fully electric LF and XD trucks, for the British truck rental and leasing company Asset Alliance Group (AAG). With the electric trucks besides the diesel versions, AAG wants to attract new customers in a fast-evolving market for e-trucks, […]
March 17, 2023
Suppose we want all new cars sold beyond 2035 in Europe to be zero-emission. In that case, it will be crucial for the EU to become more independent in mining, refining, and recycling critical raw materials like lithium, of which 21 times more will be needed. That’s only one out of a list of +30 […]
March 17, 2023
In its Antwerp hub, DHL Belgium took delivery of its first batch of electric vans. It’s the first step in the company’s goal to deploy an entire zero-emission fleet by 2030. The choice for the Ford e-Transit is no coincidence. DHL was a partner during the product development phase. The hundred zero-emission e-Transit models won’t […]
March 15, 2023
Dutch fast-charger company Fastned announced it has won a tender for building two large fast-charging plazas with 12 chargers each along the E17 highway in Gentbrugge (Belgium). As a first, Fastned will be able to equip the EV-charging-only resting area with coffee and sandwich shops, restrooms, and a child playground. The E17 is a crucial […]
March 14, 2023
Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi, the third partner in the Renault-Nissan Alliance, has presented its mid-term strategy, including the rollout of sixteen new models in the next five years, of which ni.’ ‘xEVs’. For Mitsubishi, the latter means a mix of BEVs, HEVs, and PHEVs with four fully battery-electric models in the pipeline. These four include an […]
March 13, 2023
NIO is planning to launch the shooting brake model of its ET5 sedan, developed for Europe, where estate cars are still popular, in June or July of this year. It appeared in a regulatory directory in China announcing the latest batch of models that will be allowed to be sold. Qin Lihong, co-founder and president […]
March 10, 2023
Although nowhere to find in the official PR communication, some tech tidbits are leaking from BMW via British car magazine Autocar about a beefed-up MINI Cooper Electric, due in 2024. The MINI hatch, rebaptized Cooper, will get bigger batteries than the current 32.6 kWh to stretch the range beyond the somewhat limited 234 km (WLTP) […]
March 03, 2023
Wouldn’t it be a great idea to have today’s giant car carriers sailing the world’s oceans on merely wind power like the square-rigged sailings ships of centuries ago? The modern descendants of the Vikings, with Wallenius Wilhelmsen, a global ro-ro shipping company from Norway, and Swedish carmaker Volvo among others, are dreaming of realizing this […]
March 02, 2023
The ten biggest leasing companies in Europe, managing today a fleet of 12 million vehicles, are ‘overcharging’ electric cars systematically on average by 57% or €233 per month, and €8 370 over 36 months, compared to a similar vehicle on gasoline. They claim lower resale values based on uncertainty on battery degradation, among others. Still, […]
February 27, 2023
Like humans, dogs can suffer from car sickness when traveling, even for short distances. But if your dog had the choice, he’d prefer a smooth-driving electric vehicle over a noisy diesel car. British website CarGurus did the scientific test with the help of Daniel Mills, professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine, and his team at the […]
February 27, 2023
While the Dutch still struggle to keep their Lightyear solar car project on life support, Sion, the affordable German solar electric vehicle (SEV), is dead. Sono Motors decided to pull the plug on the Sion program just before entering pre-series production. It couldn’t convince new investors despite 45 000 reservations from potential clients. However, the […]
February 24, 2023
The Netherlands remains the country with the highest share of EV-charging infrastructure, with 111 821 chargers or 23,3% of the total number in the EU on its territory. Germany comes in second, with 87 674 public chargers, 18,3% of the total. Together they stand for 41,6% of the EU’s total charging infrastructure today, scattered over […]
February 23, 2023
Since its first fully electric trucks hit the road in 2019, Volvo Trucks has sold more than 4 300 electric trucks worldwide in 38 countries. It claims to be the European market leader in 2022, with a 32% share in the heavy electric truck market and an even greater share in the Americas (US and […]
February 22, 2023
Belgian aerospace company Sonaca joins the Limburg-based start-up SOLiTHOR to develop solid-state batteries for regional aviation and future air taxis (VTOLs). Solid-state batteries are lighter, have more energy density, and are considered safer than current lithium-ion batteries with a fluid electrolyte. SOLiTHOR will be responsible for cell research, development, testing characterization, format design, and production […]
February 20, 2023
French technical study bureau H2 Motronics has developed a fuel cell racing motorbike on hydrogen, which they claim is a world first. The H2K, short for ‘H2 Kompact’, was shown at the Hyvolution exhibit in Paris and is meant as a live demonstrator for the bureau’s technical and innovative project management skills rather than for […]
February 20, 2023
Japanese carmaker Nissan and compatriot Hitachi’s Building Systems Co Ltd. subsidiary have demonstrated in Japan the possibility of keeping elevators running via V2H (vehicle-to-home) power from an electric car in a building during blackouts. In earthquake-prone Japan, the risk of getting stuck in an elevator is not uncommon. For the test, according to Reuters, both […]
February 17, 2023
Chinese electric carmaker NIO has opened its fourth battery swap station in the Netherlands, on the outskirts of Utrecht on the A2 highway to Amsterdam. Swapping a 75 or 100-kWh battery underneath the car is a seamless, fully automated process, as we could experience ourselves test-driving the ET7 sedan at the NIO Power Swap station […]
February 16, 2023
The Netherlands’ only car plant with +4 000 employees, VDL Nedcar, announced it would build the modular electric XBUS and the Evetta microcar for German start-up ElectricBrands. Earlier negotiations with American Canoo and Rivian turned out to be a damp squib. VDL Nedcar, in Born, near the Belgian border, is a contract manufacturer for BMW […]
February 15, 2023
While the European Parliament finally ratified on Tuesday in Strasbourg the agreement with the 27 member states to ban all sales of new cars and vans with a combustion engine beyond 2035, heavy trucks and buses were targeted a few hours later by the Commission. They will have to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% in […]
February 14, 2023
Belgian battery materials specialist Umicore announces it will start industrial production of cheaper manganese-rich HLM battery materials to be used in electric vehicles from 2026, next to its ‘premium’ NMC battery materials. It believes “HLM is gaining traction with car and battery cell manufacturers as a differentiating lower-cost, high energy-density, and sustainable battery technology”. Umicore […]
February 13, 2023
Dutch Fastned has opened last week its 19th fast-charging station in Belgium, located just outside the Antwerp Metropole on the E19 toward Brussels, at the park & ride at Exit 7 in Kontich. The station features eight 300 kW chargers for charging up to 300 km range in fifteen minutes if circumstances are favorable. The […]
February 10, 2023
While the EU Commission is preparing a draft on future emission standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses (HDVs), the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has published in a white paper its findings comparing life assessment greenhouse gas emissions of diesel, gas, bio-fuel, battery-electric, and fuel cell heavy trucks. And the clear winner is… no […]
February 09, 2023
Two years after starting the program in June 2020, navigation aid specialist Coyote says it has registered an apparent change in the behavior of its drivers after identifying more than 22 000 dangerous bends on Belgian roads. The navigation aid system warns when you are approaching a dangerous curve, which already resulted in drivers limiting […]
February 08, 2023
A new Pathway Report by international consultancy firm Kearney, jointly ordered by electric carmakers Polestar and Rivian, warns that without measures to decarbonize the whole well-to-wheel cycle, carmakers globally will overshoot the +1,5°C climate warming limit set by the IPCC by 75% in 2050. Entirely switching to BEVs across the entire global car fleet and […]
February 06, 2023
Lucien, the bicycle shop chain under the wings of Belgian’s most significant car importer D’Ieteren, is expanding from ten to fourteen shops in Brussels and Antwerp with the recent acquisition of Alpha Bikes (Lasne, Uccle, Woluwe Saint Lambert, and Cyclo Europe (Evere). The rapid scale-up and concentration of car dealerships in Belgium are also seen […]
February 03, 2023
Chinese electric carmaker NIO has delivered the first three EL7 models, the SUV variant of its ET7 flagship sedan, in Europe to Dutch customers. All three chose the brand’s subscription formula as an alternative to leasing or buying. That includes battery swapping services (BaaS), a first in Europe. A flexible monthly subscription (VAT excl.) for […]
February 01, 2023
The battery electric car (BEV) has grown its market share in new car registrations in 2022 with 3% to 12,1% overall. Still, range anxiety apparently drives more Europeans to a classic hybrid (22,6%) instead of electric to replace diesel and gasoline cars. Together, the latter still represent 52,8% of new car sales, even with diesel […]
