May 19, 2026
Volkswagen is bringing the GTI into the electric era while drawing heavily on the badge’s heritage. A red stripe, tartan trim, and GTI mode meet 166 kW, an adaptive chassis, and a front-axle differential lock. The manufacturer will open pre-sales for the ID. Polo GTI in autumn at prices starting just below €39,000 in Germany. […]
May 15, 2026
The delay in developing additional offshore wind turbines in the Princess Elisabeth Zone (PEZ), an area in the North Sea where new wind farms are planned, will be reflected in the electricity bills of families and businesses. According to the researchers, the delay would be at least five years. The offshore island is a complex […]
May 13, 2026
The war in Iran is disrupting oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. This is not only driving up pump prices but also pushing up jet fuel prices. What’s more, analysts say there is a real risk of a physical shortage of jet fuel in the future. Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines, among others, are downplaying […]
May 13, 2026
Japanese car manufacturer Mazda will delay the launch of its first dedicated electric vehicle by two years to 2029, reduce EV investment by nearly half, and pivot to hybrids and China-made electrified products as changing US and European regulatory policies reshape automaker strategies. But unlike other carmakers that booked billions in charges for switching course, […]
May 12, 2026
Battery cell maker Morrow has filed for bankruptcy. The collapse of another promising cell manufacturer exposes how Europe talks about industrial sovereignty but refuses to guarantee the conditions for it. Green mobility group Transport & Environment takes notice and warns that the continent could lose 34 companies the size of Northvolt if political action remains […]
May 12, 2026
American company LanzaTech has chosen North Sea Port in Ghent as the site for its first European plant to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using alcohol-to-jet technology. The project involves an investment of 500 million euros. The plant is expected to create 50 permanent jobs, in addition to approximately 300 jobs during the three-year construction […]
May 12, 2026
Honda’s automotive strategy is unraveling worldwide as CEO Toshihiro Mibe tears up his old plan and draws up a new one in the face of the company’s first-ever full-year loss. Honda Motor Co.’s recent retreats on several fronts will be in the spotlight May 14, when Mibe announces a new roadmap focused on hybrid vehicles […]
May 07, 2026
Lexus today presents the world premiere of the all-new TZ, a six-seat, fully electric premium SUV “that explores new horizons in traveling comfort and pleasure”. The Lexus TZ is revealed today ahead of its market launch in Europe in 2027. “The TZ is designed around the concept of the Driving Lounge, a seamless blending of […]
May 06, 2026
Emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, remain very high. The International Environment Agency (IEA) reported this on Monday during an international meeting in Paris, where its annual Global Methane Tracker report was presented. In 2025, record production from the fossil fuel sector (oil, coal, gas) was responsible for 35% of […]
May 05, 2026
Japan’s largest automotive supplier, Denso, is developing an inductive charging technology that could hit public roads by 2029. It could upend Japan’s charging infrastructure headache and make the charging cable and oversized battery packs relics of the past. With its highly urbanized profile, symbolized by highways on the eleventh floor of high-rise buildings, Japan is […]
May 05, 2026
The Belgian government wants to regain full control over energy policy and has secured a purchase option on Engie’s Belgian nuclear operations. Although the decision, a historic shift following the nuclear phase-out under the Verhofstadt 1 government, is generally welcomed, criticism is also growing. The costs remain a major question mark – even Prime Minister […]
May 04, 2026
The fact that the Belgian federal government has set up a ‘task force’ to consider the future of Belgium’s only surviving large car assembly plant in Ghent, operated by Volvo, has set off several alarm bells. Despite the soothing words of Flemish Minister-President Mathias Diependaele, concerns are rising. The different rumors are also fed by […]
April 30, 2026
Volkswagen is finally entering the compact EV segment with the ID. Polo, a name steeped in tradition. It is positioning the new model as an entry point into its electric lineup, priced just under €25,000. Next year, the even smaller ID. Up (name not confirmed yet) should become available at ± €20,000. The Polo first […]
April 29, 2026
Rolls-Royce has announced ‘Project Nightingale’, a luxurious convertible with a pure electric drivetrain. The 5.76-meter-long two-seater is expected to be delivered from 2028 onward, though only by invitation and limited to 100 vehicles worldwide. With the Spectre, the British luxury marque already offers a battery-electric model. The electric coupé shares many components internally with the […]
April 29, 2026
The United Arab Emirates’ decision to leave OPEC, effective 1 May, comes at a moment when the global oil market is already under severe strain—and when oil majors are reporting a new wave of exceptional profits. Taken together, experts highlight the two developments as a deeper shift underway: a market increasingly shaped by geopolitical shocks […]
April 29, 2026
One week after unveiling its Naxtra sodium-ion battery for electric vehicles, CATL has signed the largest sodium-ion battery order in history: 60 GWh for grid-scale energy storage over three years. The technology has crossed the line from lab breakthrough to industrial product. The ink on CATL’s Tech Day announcements was barely dry. The world’s largest […]
April 28, 2026
Flemish Minister of the Environment, Jo Brouns (CD&V), has granted grid operator Elia an environmental permit for the long-awaited Ventilus project, he announced on Monday. The wind energy sector and environmental organizations are relieved; action groups and companies along the route are disappointed. “Minister Brouns is completely disregarding 3,000 objections,” opponents say. New high-voltage line Ventilus […]
April 28, 2026
For the first time, fully electric cars have become the largest group within Belgium’s company car fleet—and the shift is happening significantly faster than in neighboring countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, and France. New data from the National Social Security Office (RSZ) show that electric vehicles accounted for 37.2% of all salary cars in […]
April 24, 2026
After years of financial turbulence, the Californian charging giant ChargePoint is clawing back. Its return to form starts with a standalone post that redraws the boundaries of what a single-cabinet EV charger can do. The electric vehicle charging industry has a habit of measuring progress in numbers that rapidly become obsolete. A hundred kilowatts was […]
April 23, 2026
On the eve of the Beijing Auto Show, CATL held its annual Tech Day and unveiled four new battery systems at the same time. An innovation stretch that reached from a record-breaking LFP cell for mass-market EVs to a sodium-ion battery heading for production later this year. The salvo is a direct response to BYD’s […]
April 23, 2026
Chinese automaker Seres can apparently do more than install toilets in cars. It has joined the Ionchi fast-charging joint venture in China as an equal partner alongside BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz. Each of the three companies will hold a 33.3% stake in the venture going forward. With Seres, a major local player joins Ionchi. The […]
April 22, 2026
BMW and the Center of Excellence for Robotics at the University of Zagreb (CRTA) report progress on their project to optimize BMW’s internal battery cell testing production using AI. Both state that they can significantly reduce the duration and number of test cycles while maintaining or even improving quality. In the joint research project called […]
April 22, 2026
After twelve years and a journey that started with drivers swapping cars mid-race because a single battery couldn’t last, the 975 RSE is Porsche’s answer to everyone who ever doubted that electric motorsport could be truly, viscerally fast. There is a detail buried in the history of Formula E that tells you everything about how […]
April 21, 2026
Hyundai has unveiled the Ioniq 3, a compact electric hatchback positioned between the smaller Inster and the larger Ioniq 5. The Korean manufacturer calls it an ‘Aero Hatch’, with a look inspired by an older sports hatch. It is also the first Hyundai model with an all-new interior approach. Hyundai already announced the arrival of […]
April 20, 2026
KLM is canceling 160 flights to and from Schiphol over the coming month. SAS Scandinavia, meanwhile, is scrapping at least 1,000 flights from its schedule. These are just a few examples of European airlines already canceling flights due to higher costs and concerns about kerosene supply amid a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that […]
April 20, 2026
Germany’s Bundestag has established the legal framework for a new electric vehicle subsidy aimed at low- and middle-income households. While applications are not yet open, the scheme will apply retroactively to EVs registered since the start of the year. The foundation for the new incentive scheme is Germany’s ‘Act on Promoting Climate-Neutral Mobility’, which the […]
April 17, 2026
In France, old, polluting cars are once again allowed to drive in the city center. After all, the French parliament has decided to abolish the environmental sticker and low-emission zones – measures intended to reduce pollution in cities. The ‘zones à faibles émissions’ (ZFE), as they are called in France, were introduced in 2021 with […]
April 17, 2026
BMW Group delivered 87,458 BEVs globally in the first quarter of 2026. This represents a 20.1% drop compared to the same period last year. The main reason is the declining sales in China and the US. The order intake for electric vehicles in Europe looks significantly better, thanks to the new iX3. BMW’s battery-electric vehicle […]
April 17, 2026
The Regional Environmental Permit Commission (Gewestelijke OmgevingsVergunningsCommissie, GOVC) has issued favorable opinions – although conditional – for the permits for the Ventilus high-voltage line. It is the final step before the decision by Flemish Environment Minister Jo Brouns (CD&V). Ventilus is the high-voltage line that Elia, Belgium’s high-voltage grid operator, plans to lay through West Flanders […]
April 16, 2026
Fastned is capitalizing on record demand for electric vehicle charging, as surging usage across its network highlights both the rapid growth of e-mobility and intensifying competition across the Benelux region. The Dutch fast-charging operator saw utilization rates climb sharply in 2025, pushing annual charging revenue beyond €120 million for the first time. The milestone reflects […]
April 15, 2026
The Volkswagen Group delivered around 200,000 battery-electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2026, down eight per cent year-on-year. Strong double-digit growth in Europe was not enough to compensate for sharp declines in China and the United States. In the first quarter of 2026, the Volkswagen Group recorded a notable decline in global battery-electric vehicle […]
April 14, 2026
The Belgian entrepreneur Jasper Deprez wants to bring solar energy from space to Earth with his start-up TerraSpark. The reason was a personal and unpleasant experience. During the Great Spanish Blackout of 2025, Deprez, who lives near Barcelona, was without power for almost a week, and by his own account, it was hell, especially as a […]
April 13, 2026
Electric Mobility Infrastructure, a subsidiary of the French company Engie, has won the contract to install 1,650 charging stations in Walloon municipalities. Since each charging station has two charging points, this totals 3,300 charging points, representing an increase of nearly 44% over the current charging infrastructure in the southern part of the country. Catch-up effort […]
April 13, 2026
On Sunday, Belgium reached its Overshoot Day. This means that if all countries in the world followed the Belgian consumption pattern, all the natural resources the planet could supply in one year would already be used up. We would then need 3.6 Earths. Every year, Global Footprint Network calculates Earth Overshoot Day: the date on which humanity […]
April 09, 2026
Offshore energy solutions company Jan De Nul has launched a new next-level high-performance vessel: the William Thomson, one of two identical subsea cable‑laying vessels currently under construction. Both vessels have a cargo capacity of 28,000 tons and a length of 215 meters. “This makes them the largest, most efficient, and highest-performing cable-laying vessels of their […]
April 09, 2026
The BMW Group is adopting a new, innovative hydrogen tank technology for the BMW iX5 Hydrogen, symbolizing the manufacturer’s technology-neutral approach and offering five different drive systems in one single model. The new arrangement and size of the tanks enable a higher range of up to 750 km. The new ‘BMW Hydrogen Flat Storage’ system […]
April 09, 2026
Higher airfare prices are inevitable. That’s what Willie Walsh, CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said at a meeting in Singapore. Even after a cease-fire in Iran. According to Walsh, the aviation industry will likely continue to face disruptions in jet fuel supply for months to come, even if Iran does reopen the […]
April 02, 2026
Electra, one of Belgium’s leading fast-charging operators, has opened Belgium’s first 1000 kW station in Malle. The chargers themselves have a capacity of 1000 kW, but ‘only’ 600 kW is available per car. Although that’s still enough to recharge them in the time it takes to have a coffee and bathroom break on the road. […]
April 01, 2026
As demand rises, Brussels Airlines will operate additional flights during the summer vacation. It will therefore add approximately 170 extra round-trip flights within Europe, providing 60,000 additional seats. Lufthansa, the group to which Brussels Airlines belongs, is, on the other hand, exploring various scenarios to cope with rising kerosene prices driven by the war in […]
March 30, 2026
Pieter De Crem (CD&V) was appointed chairman of high-voltage group Elia in February. This is stated in the company’s annual report. He succeeds Geert Versnick, who passed away last November. De Crem has been a member of the board of directors of the high-voltage group since 2021. He has also been appointed chairman of Elia […]
March 30, 2026
Last week, we reported that a gigantic white hydrogen bubble had been found, presumably extending across the subsurface beneath France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium. There would be an estimated 34 million tons of soil, equivalent to 14 years of Belgium’s electricity consumption. Natural hydrogen fields are rare but highly useful to the industry. Scientists suspect […]
March 26, 2026
On March 25th, 2026, the Belgian-based dredging company DEME celebrated the naming of its next-generation wind turbine installation vessel ‘Norse Wind’. The celebration, which was held at the Port of Oslo, marks a significant addition to DEME’s offshore installation fleet. Prior to the naming ceremony, DEME was honored to welcome Their Majesties the King and the […]
March 26, 2026
Energy provider ENGIE Vianeo has been awarded a contract to install 835 charging stations for the Brussels-Capital Region. The charging stations must be installed within 2 years. The locations, spread across the Brussels-Capital Region, were determined in collaboration with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Brussels Environment. They are located based on “heat maps” that […]
March 25, 2026
In Pontpierre, near Metz, in northeastern France, hydrogen has been tapped in its natural form. Drilling to a depth of more than 3,600 meters has now confirmed the presence of a significant amount. The white hydrogen bubble was discovered three years ago, but has only now been tapped. The hydrogen bubble is said to extend into […]
March 25, 2026
The spike in interest in electric vehicles triggered by the Iran war and the resulting oil price surge is real. But treating it as just another short-lived ‘fuel panic effect’ risks missing the bigger shift underway. Europe spends around €67 billion a year importing oil just to keep its cars running. That structural dependency, rather […]
March 24, 2026
The French energy company TotalEnergies is canceling two major offshore wind projects in the United States. In return, the company is receiving almost $1 billion from the US government, provided that the funds are reinvested in fossil fuel projects in the country. The world upside down? The Donald Trump administration and TotalEnergies announced the deal […]
March 24, 2026
The numbers are in, and they make for uncomfortable reading if you’re sitting in Seoul, Detroit, or Brussels. Last year, Chinese battery manufacturers controlled 70.4% of the global EV battery market, up 20% from the year before. Basically, all car-producing nations outside of China are losing the battle for battery independence. Gradually, the fears are […]
March 24, 2026
Rising jet fuel prices are taking a toll on airlines. For example, United Airlines is cancelling flights due to the drastic increase in fuel prices caused by the war in Iran. KLM, meanwhile, is temporarily halting new hires, limiting business travel, and suspending the hiring of external consultants. United Airlines is suspending approximately 5% of its […]
March 24, 2026
Renault’s plans for electric vehicle production in Spain are taking shape. The French automaker intends to accommodate three new models at its Palencia plant, including two fully electric series and one range-extender model. So far, Renault has been manufacturing its electric vehicles in France. Speculation had already emerged in recent months that Renault was considering […]
March 23, 2026
The PSA terminal in Zeebrugge, a major port and logistics terminal on the Belgian coast specializing primarily in forest and paper products, now derives half of its energy from solar panels. The nearly 1,900 panels are mounted vertically on the facade of the company’s warehouse, as the roof is not suitable for solar panels. The solar […]
March 20, 2026
That the new BMW i3 is replacing the ‘old’ i4 comes as no surprise. Shortly after the design premiere of the electric 3 Series BMW, reports are emerging of the i4’s impending end of production; only the exact timing remains unclear. Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce is stepping back from its plan to go all-electric by 2030, as […]
March 19, 2026
Trova, a Belgian start-up based in Lommel, is trying to attract investors to scale up its retrofitting business, converting used diesel trucks to electric vehicles. The time is now, according to CEO Jan Bracke, as diesel prices are soaring due to the conflicts in Iran and the Middle East, making even converted e-trucks economically viable. […]
March 19, 2026
Irritation is growing among gas station owners in the border region between Belgium and the Netherlands. Dutch gas stations have seen revenue drop by an average of 10-20% in recent weeks due to the sharp rise in fuel prices driven by the conflict in the Middle East. In Belgium, on the other hand, gas station […]
March 17, 2026
EnergyVision gives Flemish customers with solar panels free plug-in batteries. The batteries have a capacity of 2.12 kilowatt-hours and are installed as standard in all new and existing installations – without contract adjustment. They can be placed near a power outlet and connected by an EnergyVision technician. With this initiative, EnergyVision aims to equip families better […]
March 16, 2026
BMW has already switched production of the all-electric BMW iX3 at its Debrecen plant in Hungary to two-shift operation due to high demand. The automaker confirmed this in its announcement of its 2025 business figures. The move comes as no surprise, as the Munich-based manufacturer had repeatedly highlighted the strong order intake for the first […]
March 12, 2026
The war in the Middle East continues to disrupt global energy markets and aviation. The announcement of a record release of 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves by the 32 members of the International Energy Agency (IEA), of which the US accounts for 172 million, does not seem to be calming the oil […]
March 11, 2026
With the VLE, Mercedes-Benz Vans is launching the successor to the V-Class and EQV while simultaneously debuting its new electric van platform, VAN.EA. Already in the summer of last year, Mercedes-Benz was preparing the launch with press coverage of a prototype road trip from Stuttgart to Rome to prove its capability for long-term journeys. The […]
March 11, 2026
It has been a “strategic mistake” for Europe not to invest more in nuclear energy over the past few decades. This was stated by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a speech at a nuclear energy summit in Paris. Von der Leyen also announced that the European Commission has a plan ready to […]
March 10, 2026
China’s EV charging race has entered a new phase after Geely demonstrated a new 1.5 MW ultra-fast charger capable of delivering megawatt-level charging to a production Zeekr 001. The technology itself was first announced with the upgraded Zeekr 001 in late 2025, but the latest demonstration highlights the charging infrastructure required to deliver such extreme […]
March 09, 2026
Chinese EV giant BYD has stirred the electric mobility world with the unveiling of its new ‘flash charging’ technology, delivering up to 1.5 megawatts of power and allowing charging from roughly 10% to 70% in about five minutes, or charging times that approach those of refueling a gasoline car. The announcement has sparked a wave […]
