March 09, 2020
More and more companies are offering their employees electric company cars, pushing them away from the combustion engine. “We are coming to a turnaround,” leasing companies say. “It is happening.” Lower TCO Although in terms of price tag, electric cars are, on average, 10 000 euros more expensive than models with a classic combustion engine. […]
March 09, 2020
At the canceled Geneva show, Renault was ready to show the Morphoz concept car. As the name suggests, the vehicle can change according to the needs of its passengers. It’s Renault’s vision on personal and shared mobility for 2025 and beyond. Morphoz sits on Renault’s future, a modular electric platform CMF-EV that will be used […]
March 06, 2020
Last year, the European network of hydrogen (H2) filling stations grew with 36 to a total of 177. Germany got the lion’s share with 22 new ones. Worldwide, 83 new H2 filling stations were opened: 38 in Asia, 8 in North America, and one in the Arab region. At the end of 2019, the total […]
March 06, 2020
Due to a decision of the Constitutional Court, the two nuclear power plants – Doel 1 and 2 – might be closed earlier than expected. If there is no new law and no environmental impact assessment by the end of 2022, both power plants have to close down. As a consequence, there might be shortages […]
March 06, 2020
Due to being a star at the canceled Geneva Motor Show, Fiat launched last week in Milano, its third generation of the Fiat 500, the fully electric version being the highlight. FCA has mobilized opinion-makers like Leonardo di Caprio and illustrious brands like Armani, Bvlgari, and Kartell to support the launch. The first by showing […]
March 06, 2020
On Thursday, Volvo inaugurated its brand new battery assembly plant in Ghent, the first for Volvo. Belgian Geert Bruyneel, responsible for Global Production Operations at Volvo, had traveled from Göteborg to comment on the important investment. “Sustainability is as important as safety at Volvo,” says Geert Bruyneel. “That’s why we are on this electrification journey. […]
March 05, 2020
Dutch buyers of new electric cars will receive a 4 000 euros subsidy as of this summer. Those who buy a used car are eligible for 2 000 euros. That is what Stientje van Veldhoven, Dutch Minister for Environment and Housing (D66), wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives on Wednesday. 250 million […]
March 05, 2020
American carmaker, General Motors, is launching a $20 billion (€18 billion) ‘electric offensive’ spread over all its brands. Spearhead is its third-generation EV platform and GM’s proprietary Ultium battery, promising ranges above 400 miles (643 km). “We believe in an all-electric future, and we will bring all the power and assets of GM to the […]
March 04, 2020
Bart Somers, Flemish Minister for Internal Affairs (Open Vld), wants to push local governments to enable the roll-out of at least one EV charging point per 200 inhabitants by 2025. For 6,5 million Flemish, that would mean 34 000 public charging points. It’s not pep talk only, but he also promises them financial support out […]
March 04, 2020
The second full-electric VW in the ID. range, finally called ID.4, will be an SUV. The product version of the ID. Crozz show car will be launched in the second half of this year. This BEV will be sold in Europe, China, and the US. Just recently, VW CEO, Herbert Diess, announced that the popularity […]
March 03, 2020
UCLouvain’s spin-off company, Xylowatt, announced it received an ‘Efficient Solutions’ award from the Solar Impulse Foundation for its Notar reactor. The machine uses wood residues to produce clean, renewable gas without coal tar or other residues. The Belgian company is working on optimizing renewable energy to limit fossil fuel use. “We received the award in […]
March 03, 2020
German carmaker Volkswagen will no longer develop new cars on compressed natural gas (CNG). According to its Chief of Development, Frank Welsch, in the German newspaper Handelsblatt, it’s more trouble than it’s worth as sales figures are low. VW expects them not to increase dramatically anymore and wants to bet entirely on the electric car. […]
February 28, 2020
On Thursday, PSA-daughter Citroën launched Ami, the production version of Ami One, a prototype it showed in Geneva last year. The manufacturer doesn’t like you to call it a car; it’s a ‘moving object able to transport two people in an urban environment’. At Citroën, they describe their Ami as ‘disruptive urban mobility’. It’s small; […]
February 28, 2020
Oil giant Shell, the Dutch gas network company Gasunie and Groningen Seaports want to build a mega-offshore wind farm and a mega-hydrogen plant in the north of the country. The electricity will be used to mass-produce hydrogen by electrolysis. Hydrogen can be transported throughout north-west Europe using the obsolete Groningen natural gas infrastructure. The NortH2 […]
February 27, 2020
Belgian retailer group, Colruyt, and gas grid manager, Fluxys, have given the green light for the plans to build together a 25 MW hydrogen electrolysis plant in the harbor of Zeebrugge. The new project called HyoffWind will use ‘green’ electricity from the offshore windmill parks to produce ‘green’ hydrogen. Initially, the initiators hesitated between Antwerp […]
February 27, 2020
Does the Norwegian constitution allow drilling for oil in the Barents Sea? That is the question that Greenpeace Norway and the climate youngsters of ‘Natur og Ungdom’ (Nature and Youth) want to have answered by the Norwegian Supreme Court. That is why they’ve taken the matter to the highest jurisdictional authority of the country. They […]
February 27, 2020
The Japanese electronics concern, Panasonic, wants to bring its cooperation with electric car manufacturer Tesla to an end, some anonymous sources reported to the press agency, Bloomberg. Both companies already have a joint solar panel factory for two years now, but it still isn’t running on full capacity. Loss-making departments According to the sources, Panasonic […]
February 27, 2020
Dutch railway manager, ProRail, is starting tests with the first hydrogen train in the Netherlands, on tracks between Leeuwarden and Groningen. During two weeks test runs will be done at night at speeds up to 140 km/hour. The train, a Coradia iLint from French train builder Alstom, was ‘pulled’ from Germany to its test destination […]
February 26, 2020
Unlike gasoline or diesel at the pump, the price of charging at a public charge point is rarely clear to consumers. As a result, they could be surprised by the amount of the invoice at the end of the month. For example, there is sometimes a ‘starting rate’ for charging and the rates of different […]
February 26, 2020
Volkswagen Group CEO, Herbert Diess, has caused a certain turmoil with his statement that shortly, SUVs will lose part of their popularity. The cause? Electrification. Last year, VW still thought that half of the cars sold would be SUVs in 2025; now, the big boss apparently sees a change. This is remarkable, given the fact […]
February 26, 2020
Retail discounter Lidl is expanding its network of free charging points at its supermarkets from 61 to 100 in the next months. With two connections per charging station, a total of 200 plugs are offered. Clients can use fast-chargers for free while shopping. Lidl already started in 2012 to install the first chargers for electric […]
February 25, 2020
VW wants its own battery technology and strategy. That’s why it’s joining with Northvolt to build a giga-factory in northern Sweden and another one in German Salzgitter. In doing so, VW is showing it wants to be a free-rider in the battery competition. Car manufacturers are all aware of the importance of batteries. To be […]
February 25, 2020
The Dutch consultant KPMG had warned about this last week: black EV charging station Saturday. After all, people who are on winter sports with Tesla are suffering from a new kind of traffic jam, namely at the charging stations. On social media, films appear of long rows of Tesla cars at charging points of the […]
February 25, 2020
European companies are expected to double the share of their low-carbon investments if Europe wants to reach its 2050 carbon-neutral target. This is evident from figures collected by the specialist association Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a British NGO that collects information on the climate behavior of businesses. According to the annual report of CDP, some […]
February 21, 2020
Volvo Trucks North America is starting an extended project called ‘LIGHTS’ to deliver freight to and within the Los Angeles area by its fully ‘Class 8’ VNR Electric trucks, the heaviest class in its line-up. Starting with five of these, making round trips from 120 to 280 km, the program will build up to a […]
February 20, 2020
The City of Brussels signed on Wednesday with Bertrand Piccard, the Solar Impulse pilot with two world tours under his belt, a collaboration agreement for its ecological transition. The agreement aims at providing concrete and immediate responses to the climate emergency. It is valid for a renewable period of two years, but the partnership is […]
February 19, 2020
American electric carmaker, Tesla, is said to be negotiating with Chinese battery producer, CATL, to use their ‘cheaper’ cobalt-free modules for Shanghai-built Model 3s. Tesla would be the first US automaker to use lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries. Sources close to the dossier say price reductions for these batteries could be “a double-digit percentage”. Waiting on solid-state […]
February 19, 2020
The capacity of the Dutch electricity network threatens to become problematic rapidly as demand for new connections grew sevenfold already. Grid manager Alliander calls upon the government to come with a ‘master plan’ and ‘all hands on deck’ to avoid major blackouts at the end of the decade. Alliander’s CEO Ingrid Thijssen chose an electricity […]
February 18, 2020
Amsterdam is doing it already, but elsewhere in the Netherlands, grid managers are also planning to limit EV-charging during peak hours to avoid blackouts in a whole district. Considering one powerfull electric car slurps as much electricity as ten households, they see no other option as the EV’s popularity is growing. Last month, Elaad.nl (e-charge.nl), […]
February 17, 2020
Rolls-Royce, the British aviation engine manufacturer (not the carmaker owned by BMW), told the BBC it is going to build ‘mini nuclear reactors’ in series by 2029. By doing this on an industrial scale in modules, made in a factory instead of at the site, the costs of building nuclear power plants would be far […]
February 17, 2020
The Belgian shipping company, CMB, is planning to have a first large container ship operational on hydrogen. “We have to do something about the climate,” the company says. Turning point Shipping is a polluting sector. More than 95% of the 60 000 vessels that transport 12 billion tons of goods overseas use polluting fuel oil. […]
February 17, 2020
Volvo/Geely’s electric brand, Polestar, is really coming on the market now. Apparently, the interest of the visitors at the Brussels Motor Show, its first public appearance as a car to be bought, was higher than expected. From Friday on, orders are happily awaited. We were invited to Volvo’s confined testing site near Gothenburg to make […]
February 14, 2020
Electricity production through solar panels and windmills grew 20% in Belgium in 2019. The jump from 9,7 TWh in 2018 to 11,5 TWh in 2019 is mostly due to wind energy. Those are the results published by the Regulating Commission for Electricity and Gaz (CREG). Solar and wind energy installations represented 16% of the total […]
February 13, 2020
The ‘floating hydrogen and solar energy lab’ of French captain and sailor Victorien Erussard, the Energy Observer, is ready to start next week the second phase of its six-year round-the-world tour with zero emissions. The goal is to show the world the technologies that can make a difference in the battle to fight climate change. […]
February 13, 2020
DEME, the Belgian world leader specialized in dredging operations, has developed a special kind of sea drill, together with the German construction expert Herrenknacht. A world first. The company usually uses a giant hammer to anchor the foundations of an offshore wind farm into the sea-floor. For some locations, however, like the French wind farm […]
February 12, 2020
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global CO2 emissions from energy production barely increased last year. Emissions amounted to 33,3 billion tons in 2019 compared to 33,1 billion in 2018. And this despite the growth of the world economy by 2,9%. Total CO2 emissions are still going up, though. The stagnation is mainly because […]
February 11, 2020
Flemish authorities are turning a deaf ear to the warnings of the climate experts that were selected to assist the Flemish government in working out a Climate and Energy Plan. Hardly one year ago, former Minister for the Environment, Koen Van den Heuvel (CD&V), decided to make up a team of scientific experts to support […]
February 07, 2020
Volvo CEO, Hakan Samuelsson, was in Brussels on Thursday to comment on the good results of the Swedish/Chinese car manufacturer last year. The Ghent factory is playing a major part in these positive evolutions. In 2019, Volvo sold 705.000 cars (+9,8%), (first time more than 700.000), and turnover increased with 8,5% to 26 billion euros. […]
February 06, 2020
French car manufacturer Peugeot, part of the PSA Group, has no fear about the stringent EU average CO2 rules. At a driving presentation of all their electrified models, they confirmed to be ‘right on track’ to meet the European standards. The brand strategy of Peugeot is focused on three elements: serenity, pleasure, and simplicity. Peugeot […]
February 05, 2020
Several young companies like German Sono Motors and Dutch Lightyear are fighting for the breakthrough of the so-called solar car, but is there a future for this type of car? A year ago, the Dutch startup showed the Lightyear One, an electric car with a 600 km range that recharges itself with solar panels and […]
February 05, 2020
German vehicle manufacturer, Daimler, has announced that it will no longer develop new internal combustion engines (ICE) for passenger cars. Instead, it will concentrate on battery technology and electric motors. It was the Head of Development, Markus Schäfer, who declared that there were no development projects anymore for future ICE. Emission rules and fiscal measures, […]
February 05, 2020
Britain is going to ban – ‘subject to consultation’ – the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars, even hybrids by 2035. That’s five years earlier than initially planned and it can be even sooner, if feasible. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK has a responsibility to compensate for the historic CO2 emissions of […]
February 04, 2020
The municipality of Hoogeveen is going to build the first hydrogen-powered housing project in The Netherlands, called Van der Veen home zone. The project will consist of about a hundred houses, and the construction works will start by the end of 2020 to be ready by 2023. Hydrogen-heated homes The installation of technical hydrogen systems […]
February 04, 2020
According to figures from Febiac (Belgian car federation), BMW takes the lead of all brands in January 2020. There are also interesting shifts to be seen between the different drive modes. BMW accounted for 5.397 registrations or a market share of 10,41 %. Volkswagen ranks second with 5,071 registrations (market share of 9,78%), Peugeot third […]
February 04, 2020
In 2015, Ghent Alderman for Mobility, Filip Watteeuw (Groen) launched the ambitious plan to have 20.000 shared cars by 2020. Today, five years later, his project apparently was too ambitious. In the meantime, there are more than enough cars, but the infrastructure is lagging. Ambitious goal In Ghent, the number of drivers willing to share […]
February 03, 2020
Flemish newspaper De Morgen interviewed Frans Timmermans, ‘Mister climate’ of the European Commission, about the European Green Deal. Timmermans does not see the Green Deal as a fixed plan, but rather as a guideline with the ultimate goal of climate neutrality by 2050. For Timmermans, the Green Deal combines three major challenges in Europe: the […]
February 03, 2020
Running an engine on iron power, turning it into rust by burning it and extracting a load of energy out of it this way to move a vessel with 15.000 containers; it is theoretically possible. And the good thing is: there are no CO2 emissions, and the rust can be captured and turned into iron […]
January 31, 2020
German automotive supplier Bosch has presented in Feuerbach near Stuttgart (Germany) its new fuel cell stacks for trucks and cars, developed with Swedish PowerCell. American electric truck builder Nikola is the first to order it for its H2, along with a ‘non-disclosed’ carmaker. Fuel cell technology, based on (green) hydrogen, is considered an alternative to […]
January 30, 2020
Norway’s biggest oil company and energy supplier, Equinor, the former Statoil, wants to cut CO2 emissions together with other companies in the oil and gas industry with 40% by 2030 to become CO2-neutral by 2050. Equinor claims that by doing this, in 2030, Norway’s total CO2 emissions will be reduced by 10% already. That’s to […]
January 29, 2020
The French government has launched a ‘call of interest’ to the industry to set up a national bio-kerosine production, five times the size of Total’s current bio-refinery La Mède. It wants to push aviation to use 2% of bio-kerosine by 2025, 5% by 2030, and 50% by 2050, compared to 0,1% today. France is likely […]
January 29, 2020
According to Flemish Environment Minister, Zuhal Demir (N-VA), Flanders is keeping its promises regarding the number of electric vehicles and charging points by the end of the year. The installing companies, on the other hand, sound the alarm bell. Five years ago, the previous Flemish government launched a plan of action called ‘Clean Power for […]
January 29, 2020
Advanced Metallurgical Group (AMG) wants to build a lithium plant in Germany. The aim is to prevent a shortage of batteries once the European production of electric cars is running at full speed. The German automotive world warned for such a crisis last week. According to analysts, there will inevitably be a shortage of raw […]
January 28, 2020
While the price of cobalt has decreased due to an over-offer on the market, car manufacturers are nevertheless negotiating multi-year contracts to secure supplies. Tesla, for example, is negotiating with Glencore for its cobalt supply, like BMW already did. But why are manufacturers trying to secure a material that seems abundant? According to George Heppel, […]
January 28, 2020
The Port of Ostend and two partners, dredger DEME and the Flemisch investment trust PMV are planning a 50 MW ‘green’ hydrogen plant by 2022, to result in a 300 MW installation by 2025. ‘Hyport’ is to convert surplus electricity of offshore wind parks into hydrogen both for energy backup as for transport use. The […]
January 28, 2020
“If we want to keep the existing nuclear power plants open after 2020, it is time for action,” warns the CEO of Electrabel, Philippe Van Troeye, in a press release, in which he presents the 2020 plans for the company. Environmental effects As of 2021, it will become very difficult to keep them open due […]
January 27, 2020
Can e-fuels or synthetic fuels based on ‘green hydrogen’ keep the combustion engine alive in the future? In theory, it looks promising, but being twice as expensive as fossil fuels today, it will be hard to find an economical business case. The petrochemical industry is very much in favor: it is a question of survival […]
January 24, 2020
Flemish investment company GIMV is participating in a Canadian nuclear fusion project which, if it ever succeeds, could be a solution to the climate problem. Harnessing nuclear fusion could provide a nearly inexhaustible source of energy, the holy grail of the energy world. Nuclear fusion is the process that makes the sunburn. When the nuclei […]
January 23, 2020
The German daughters of Dutch Gasunie and grid operator Tennet are joining forces with gas manager Thyssengas to build a 100 MW power-to-gas hydrogen plant in Diele, near the Dutch border. When operational in 2022, it should be one of Germany’s biggest hydrogen operations. The location for the so-called ‘Element Eins’ project was chosen after […]
January 22, 2020
Children’s toy retailer ToyChamp is going to use trucks to supply batteries to its stores in Belgium and the Netherlands. The batteries will be charged by the solar panel park on the roof of its distribution center in Genk. Flemish Minister for Energy, Zuhal Demir (N-VA), was invited to the presentation of the project. Demir […]
January 21, 2020
European Commissioner Johannes Hahn estimates that the European ‘Green Deal’ will cost at least 1.000 billion euros. He now has to convince the European finance ministers of the ‘Sustainable Europe Investment Plan’. That plan is the investment structure of the ‘Green Deal’ that was proposed in December. To achieve its main goal, a climate-neutral Europe […]
