September 23, 2022
Fuel prices are skyrocketing, and this impacts people’s mobility behavior. As a consequence, two-thirds of Flemish citizens (67%) use their cars less often. Some opt for the bicycle (56%), others use public transport (20%), and some (24%) just reduce their outdoor trips. The figures come from the large-scale biennial citizen’s survey Fietsberaad Vlaanderen (FV) organized […]
September 15, 2022
The Dutch bicycle manufacturer Roetz launches its newest e-bike innovation. As its name already reveals, the ‘Roetz Life’, as the new e-bike is called, is intended to be ‘a bicycle for life’. The modular frame is made of high-quality materials and can be reconfigured to be useful through several stages of people’s lives. The Roetz […]
September 12, 2022
Today, bicycle leasing is more popular than ever among Belgian commuters. In the first six months of the year, the number of commuters who used a leased bike to ride to and from work increased by 9,1% compared to last year. Compared to three years ago, it’s an increase of 127,2%. The figures come from […]
September 09, 2022
Cycling is becoming more and more popular in Belgium. In all regions and among all age categories. And not only for recreational purposes. The use of the electric bike has increased by 56% since 2019. However, today, also traditional bikes score better than two years ago (from 41 to 45%). After an earlier survey in […]
September 02, 2022
The federal mobility budget, introduced for employees as an alternative to their company cars, is not really persuasive. A survey by SD Worx shows that three years after its introduction, hardly 2% of Flemish employers offer their employees this sustainable mobility solution. In Brussels, the formula is slightly more popular (8%), while in Wallonia, less […]
August 29, 2022
The German micro-mobility provider TIER Mobility has launched 250 shared e-bicycles in Liège. It is the first Walloon city to benefit from this service. TIER Mobility had already 200 e-scooters in Liège and also offers both services in Brussels. The news that TIER would also be introducing e-bikes in Liège was already announced in May […]
August 18, 2022
The Italian start-up SmartEbike is working on a special kind of electric cargo bike for the street food business. Although still in the concept phase, the Street Food E-Bike is advertised as a “trendy and fashionable alternative to the good old-fashioned food cart”. According to the ‘inventors’, the Street Food E-Bike can store anything from […]
August 18, 2022
Bike Republic, the bicycle chain of Colruyt Group, has taken over the first shop in Brussels, IMP Bike in Evere. The take-over fits in with the chain’s plan to become the reference in the Belgian (e-)bike market, with 50 to 60 shops in Belgium. Currently, Bike Republic is mainly active in Flanders. With the take-over, […]
August 17, 2022
Veilig Verkeer Nederland (VVN), a Dutch organization dedicated to traffic safety since 1932, wants to ban devices to tune up electric bicycles. With those tuning kits, e-bikes with a normal maximum speed of 25 km/hour can be tuned up to reach speeds of 45 to 50 km/hour. “Far too dangerous”, says VVN, “especially for youngsters.” […]
August 10, 2022
Antwerp has kicked off the rollout of an extensive shared e-bicycle network. In May, the city announced that the 32 municipalities of the Antwerp transport region and the Waasland would start to launch a large shared e-bike platform. In the meantime, the first bright orange bicycles are driving around the metropolis. On May 11th, Antwerp […]
August 04, 2022
The German shared mobility platform Tier plans to introduce 1 500 shared e-bicycles in Brussels. The first vehicles are available since Wednesday, and the vehicle fleet will expand further in the coming weeks. Mid-February, micro-mobility provider Tier launched hundreds of new shared e-scooters in Brussels. In the meantime, the company has more than 4 000 […]
July 28, 2022
Young people, especially those between 18 and 34 years old, drive less by car. As a result, the share of kilometers they traveled as car drivers has decreased from 55% in 2019 to 45% in 2022. This is evident from the mobility barometer of safety institute Vias, based on an online survey of a representative […]
July 27, 2022
In January this year, the Brussels Minister for Mobility, Elke Van den Brandt (Groen), announced that the Brussels Region would get its own bicycle junction network. Now, the project is entering a new phase. The fieldwork is finished, and signposting is ready to begin. If all goes well, all road signs – some 2 000 […]
July 13, 2022
Speed pedelec manufacturer Stromer launches a new top model and an interesting leasing scheme. The relentless activity of the Swiss e-bike manufacturer seems a reflection of the healthy future of the bicycle market, despite current production and delivery problems. Stromer launches its new ST7 top model at the Eurobike fair in Frankfurt. At the same […]
July 08, 2022
The number of newly registered speed pedelecs increased spectacularly in the year’s first six months. Between January and June, 8 219 units were sold, an increase of 26,2%, and 1 709 units more than during the same period last year. In June alone, 1 706 of the popular vehicles were sold, 43,7% more than last […]
July 05, 2022
Italian manufacturer of performance motorbikes Ducati took the cover of its first all-electric prototype. The V21L will be competing in the Moto E as of 2023, the racing series of which Ducati is the single supplier. While all eyes are on a street version, Ducati’s lips remain sealed for now. With no e-motorbike in its […]
July 05, 2022
Last month, consultancy firm Deloitte conducted a study asking consumers which mobility solution they favor. E-bikes emerged as the big winner, confirming their uprising trend boosted during the pandemic. While the analysis was performed in Germany, the increasing popularity of e-bikes all across the globe confirms its findings. E-bikes are the most frequently used electric […]
July 05, 2022
Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) wants to make bicycle theft – almost 70 a day in Belgium – a priority for the police. A single national bicycle registration system will be set up so that the police can return a recovered bicycle to its owner more easily. That is what the newspapers Het Nieuwsblad […]
June 23, 2022
Micro-mobility platform Bolt is launching 900 e-bikes in Brussels. The Estonian company, launching e-bikes to celebrate its first anniversary on the Brussels market, states this in a press release. In time, Bolt wants to deploy 16 000 e-bikes across Europe to expand the range of micro-mobility available in cities. The company, the largest mobility platform […]
June 09, 2022
In April, the city of Ghent announced the introduction of more shared bicycles in the city. The Danish Donkey Republic, already active in the city for three years, will get new permission for its 500 bright orange city bikes. On top of that, Mobit will launch 200 green city bikes and Dott will offer Ghent’s […]
June 09, 2022
Porsche has taken over Fazua, a light and compact drive systems manufacturer for e-bikes. The take-over follows Porsche earlier taking a 20-per cent stake in the German start-up. It is also part of a drive at Porsche to expand the e-bike business. Fazua, based in Ottobrunn, near Munich, is considered by Porsche a ‘pioneer in […]
June 07, 2022
This weekend, Flemish Minister for Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), officially inaugurated the first counting post for cyclists at the former train station of As (Limburg). The Minister allocates one million euros to install some sixty similar counting posts in all Flemish provinces. Each province will have twelve counting locations. Cycling has become increasingly popular […]
May 31, 2022
The first bridge over the Brussels Ring Road is ready for use. The bridge, located near the Diegem train station, follows the railway line between Leuven and Brussels and connects to the F3 cycling highway. Flemish Minister for Mobility and Public Works Lydia Peeters (Open VLD) officially inaugurated the 169-meter-long bridge on Monday. Motivate commuters […]
May 25, 2022
D’Ieterens ‘Lucien’ bike business has a new, important competitor: Raida. The new group consists of three local chains: Cool Electro Cycles (West-Flanders), Velodome (Antwerp), and Bicyclic (Wallonia). Altogether, they represent 22 shops with 120 employees and a € 40 million turnover. Another big chain is the Colruyd daughter Bike Republic (formerly called Fiets!), which counts […]
May 20, 2022
Flemish Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open VLD) wants to have people who buy an electric bike guided to a training course by the salesperson. The Minister wants to do that to counter the rising accident figures. One in four of the victims of an injury accident in Flanders in the first three months of […]
May 12, 2022
Following the market launch (2019) of the LiveWire One, the first electric-powered Harley Davidson, today, the manufacturer announced that there will be a second model, the ‘S2 Del Mar’, which will be positioned below the LiveWire One. It is expected to hit the market in mid-2023 and will cost less than 15 000 euros. The […]
May 11, 2022
This summer, 32 municipalities of the Antwerp transport region and the Waasland will roll out a large shared e-bike platform. The project is intended to stimulate the modal shift. The coordinator is Lantis, manager of large construction projects like the Oosterweel connection in Antwerp. The Danish Donkey Republic will provide and maintain the bikes. “As […]
April 14, 2022
Billy Bike, the Brussels-based shared electric bicycle operator, is forced to go through a juridical reorganization. Due to the pandemic crisis, in which social and cultural life was at a low ebb, the company had to seek protection from the Brussels business court at the end of March, the newspaper L’Echo writes. The lawyer, Emmanuelle […]
April 13, 2022
OKAI, a Chinese multinational that has built its reputation as one of the largest e-scooter and e-bike sharing service providers, launches its first consumer-oriented e-bike: the OKAI Stride. The company, with production facilities in Jinhua, Zhejiang and European headquarters in Berlin, is best known as the supplier of e-bikes to big sharing platforms like Lime […]
April 12, 2022
The number of seriously injured traffic victims in the Netherlands has increased spectacularly (+18%) in the last ten years. In 2021, 110 000 Dutch traffic victims ended up in Intensive Care; 66 600 of them had serious injuries, mainly caused by bicycle accidents. One out of three (44%) were cyclists aged 55 or older, followed […]
April 08, 2022
The city of Ghent will soon welcome two additional shared bicycle platforms bringing the total number of available (e-)bikes to 1 450. That is what Filip Watteeuw (Groen), Ghent Alderman for Mobility, announced on Thursday. Unlike Antwerp (Velo) and Brussels (Villo), Ghent doesn’t have a traditional bike-sharing system with its ‘own stations’. According to Watteeuw, […]
April 07, 2022
The VAT on bicycles and e-bikes will not be reduced to 6% in Belgium, according to a Royal Decree published in the Belgian Official Journal on Wednesday. Instead, the government now wants to use the reserved budget of 80 million euros for alternative mobility policies to promote cycling in commuting. The House had unanimously approved […]
April 05, 2022
On March 31st, Dutch bicycle giant Royal Gazelle has opened its first e-bike test center in Belgium, on the Mechelsesteenweg in Rumst between Antwerp and Mechelen. Potential clients can test all e-bikes of the Dutch manufacturer on an indoor and outdoor track before being ordered in a local bike store. Gazelle, owned by Pon Holdings, […]
April 04, 2022
Taiwan’s biggest motorbike, scooter, and quad manufacturer Kymco has launched a concept to offer cities a backup power solution for the most crucial traffic lights and street lights in case of grid power failure: integrated scooter battery swapping stations. By incorporating an Ionex swap station into urban street lights and traffic lights, eventually charged by […]
April 04, 2022
The Belgian government will be releasing 240 million euros to promote commuting by bicycle in the coming years. This was decided during the budget review, says Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo). In addition, the government will also release 30 million euros to ease the transport cost of employees. And last but not least, public […]
April 01, 2022
D’Ieteren is buying itself into the profitable B2B bicycle leasing market through its Lab Box daughter, investing one million euros to gain a majority part in Belgian Joule. This Ghent-based start-up, founded in 2018, offers full bicycle fleet leasing for companies and governments with a portfolio of some 20 different brands. In that arena, D’Ieteren […]
March 29, 2022
Two Belgian bike manufacturers, Ellio and Ahooga, are joining forces. The first is a small start-up from Louvain producing a two-wheel-drive speed-pedelec; the second is a more extensive and somewhat older Brussels (Uccle) start-up building electric city bikes. Today, they’re launching a joint project, a speed-pedelec from Ellio with the hipster design touch from Ahooga. […]
March 25, 2022
Amid a successful crowdfunding campaign, it came to light that Belgian bicycle manufacturer Cowboy booked a considerable loss last year, exceeding its turnover. The financial results were published in documents the company made available to possible investors from a crowdfunding round. According to the preliminary figures, the net loss in 2020 doubled from 11,7 million […]
March 21, 2022
Last weekend, Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), and the Flemish Foundation for Traffic Science (Vlaamse Stichting Verkeerskunde, VSV) launched a new campaign to get more people on the bicycle. “Especially for short-distance trips,” she added. She gave the kick-off in Oudenaarde (East of Flanders). One of the figureheads of the campaign is […]
March 17, 2022
The die is cast. The Ministers of Mobility of the different Belgian governments have finally decided to ban e-scooters from the footway. From now on, they have to ride on the bike-way, just like in many other European countries. Furthermore, all those younger than 16 are no longer allowed to ride an e-scooter on public […]
March 15, 2022
The Belgian electric and connected bicycle start-up Cowboy aims high for its future. After having already raised $ 80 million in January and more than € 4,5 million through their last crowdfunding, the company is back at it with a new participative financing solution. With that new crowdfunding and the additional financing, Cowboy aims at […]
March 11, 2022
Last year, the sales of bicycles in the Netherlands decreased significantly (-16%) due to continuous supply problems. The sales of e-bikes, however, increased. According to sector organization Bovag and RAI Association, more than half of all bicycles (52%) sold in 2021 were e-bikes. It’s the first time the e-bike seems to be more popular than […]
March 04, 2022
On Wednesday, Tier Mobility, Europe’s leading shared mobility provider, announced its acquisition of Ford’s subsidiary Spin, which specialized in shared electric bikes and scooters. Through this acquisition, Tier expands into North America, becoming the largest multimodal micro-mobility operator globally in terms of number of cities and vehicles. The purchase price or other financial information about […]
February 22, 2022
Brussels Minister of Mobility, Elke Van den Brandt (Groen), is happy with the results of the latest traffic safety barometer of traffic safety institute Vias. The number of road deaths in Brussels went down from 14 to 6, while Flanders registered an increase of 18%. “The ‘City 30′ project (30 kph speed limit in Brussels) […]
February 11, 2022
Porsche AG has announced two strategic partnerships in the fast-growing market of e-bikes. The sports car manufacturer has acquired Fazua, a German manufacturer of electric drivetrains for cycles, and concluded two joint ventures with Dutch Ponooc. With the latter, it wants to build e-Bikes, on one hand, and develop technological solutions for micro-mobility, on the […]
February 07, 2022
Soft mobility has gained new followers over the past year, thanks to the e-bike, now used by 20% of the Belgian population. That is what the latest Vias Institute barometer says. The use of the car is decreasing in Wallonia and Brussels. In Wallonia from 81 to 76%, in Brussels from 63 to 57%. Flanders […]
February 01, 2022
A young Ghent startup, called Taito Mobility, is launching what it calls a much more stable and safer three-wheeler e-scooter via a pre-sale on crowdfunding-platform Indiegogo. The design features three larger 10-inch wheels and tires, a patented suspension system, and a hovering bamboo platform on a sturdy marine-grade stainless steel frame. It has a front, […]
January 28, 2022
This year, Alderman for Mobility in Liège, Gilles Foret (MR), is planning an awareness campaign for the private sector regarding secure bicycle parking facilities. He aims to push companies to swap parking spots reserved for cars to ones for bicycles. The TEC is also pushing for bicycle facilities. This Thursday, the Walloon transport company announced […]
January 27, 2022
With 790 000 – mainly imported – e-bicycles sold, compared to 652 000 electric cars, the most popular electric vehicle in the United States has two wheels, greencarreports.com headlines. EV sales (BEV and PHEV) more than doubled from 296 000 in 2020. But e-bike sales almost did the same compared to the 463 000 of […]
January 27, 2022
Belgian e-bike manufacturer Cowboy has raised 80 million dollars (or some 70,9 million euros) from various investors. The money is to be used for investment in product design, to scale up the production process, and additional services, such as on-demand services and a digital bike coach. This is what the manufacturer reports in a press […]
January 25, 2022
On Monday, the American investment company KKR made a take-over bid of 1,56 billion euros for the Accell Group the Dutch owner of bicycle brands like Raleigh, Sparta, Koga, Babboe, Haibike, Winora, Ghost, Batavus, Lapierre, and Carqon. The KKR consortium, a group of investors, will give the Dutch bicycle manufacturer a strong financial boost, which […]
January 19, 2022
The Brussels Region will soon get its own bicycle junction network. That is what the Brussels Minister for Mobility, Elke Van den Brandt (Groen), confirmed on Tuesday in the competent commission at the Parliament. Since the coronavirus outbreak, the Brussels Region has seen an 87% increase in cyclists’ numbers. “Cycling is getting more and more […]
January 18, 2022
On Monday, the Brussels Region inaugurated a 1 200-meter section of the canal cycle route or ‘cyclostrade’ linking Brussels to Boom. On the Flemish side, work on a 5 km missing link between Vilvoorde and Grimbergen has entered its final phase. The Canal Cycle Route is part of an interregional and European network of cycle […]
January 06, 2022
The wet summer months of 2021 have had a negative impact on the registrations of speed pedelecs. In spring, however, figures were still promising. In November, the results showed a slight recurrence, but in December, hardly 731 speed pedelecs were registered in Belgium, 13,16% less than in 2020. These are the conclusions of mobility federation […]
December 28, 2021
Yamaha will launch two fully electric scooters in 2022. The concept versions were already seen on the Tokyo Motorshow back in 2019. Remarkably, the compact E02 is powered by a universal removable battery that can also be found in other scooters of Japanese origin. The E01 is a maxiscooter with a double saddle and an […]
December 15, 2021
Earlier this year, Belgian car importer D’Ieteren announced that – besides car import – it would also focus on bicycle distribution and maintenance. Today, the group puts its money where its mouth is with the second major acquisition of iBikes, a group of bicycle shops in the Antwerp region. D’Ieteren has already made a significant […]
December 01, 2021
Italian motor racer Max Biaggi has set a new speed record at the wheel of an electric motorbike at the end of November. Venturi’s Voxan Wattman reached a top speed of no less than 456 km/hour on the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US. Max Biaggi is a renowned Italian racing driver […]
November 25, 2021
More than a quarter (27%) of workers in the port of Ghent use their bicycles to commute. That is twice as many as the Belgian average. Compared to the first survey Voka, the Flemish employers’ organization, organized in 2008, the number of cyclists has tripled in the Ghent’s part of North Sea Port. The figures […]
November 23, 2021
The French-Dutch micro-mobility operator Dott deployed its first electric bikes in the nineteen Brussels communes on Monday morning. By the end of the year, there will be 2 000 of them. “With more options, we hope to encourage people of Brussels to use an environmentally friendly way of getting around to make the city more […]
November 17, 2021
Last month, we announced that VRT, the national public-service broadcaster for the Flemish Community in Belgium, would provide cyclists with useful traffic information. In the meantime, the traffic app is operational and already 5 000 cyclists have downloaded it. The Cyclists’ Union (Fietsersbond) is happy with the response. “It shows that many people already use […]
