July 08, 2021
The Walloon Parliament has approved in the plenary assembly the decree proposed by the Mobility Committee for a framework setting standards and rules for free-floating e-scooters to be rolled out in the Region. Free-floating means that the e-scooter does not have to be returned to a fixed place but can be left on the public […]
June 30, 2021
With the Mini Vision Urbanaut virtual vision vehicle presentation in November 2020, the Mini brand revealed a new interpretation of mobility. Now the BMW Group is set to unveil a physical model of the vehicle. The model will be given its world premiere on 1 July 2021 at the DLD Summer conference in Munich. “At […]
June 25, 2021
Swapfiets, the Dutch scale-up offering a bicycle-as-a-service subscription formula with bikes recognizable with their blue front wheel, makes its entree in the Tour de France that starts on Saturday. Team Jumbo-Visma, with Belgian champion Wout van Aert, will start with blue front tires specially developed for the cooperation with Swapfiets. Swapfiets and Jumbo-Visma agreed on […]
June 24, 2021
The Dutch lease company, MisterGreen, specialized in leasing Tesla cars, is expanding its activities to Denmark. By doing so, the company will be the first pure electric lease company in Scandinavia. The target of Mistergreen is to realize more than 10% of the turnover of Tesla in Denmark within five years. It will increase its […]
June 24, 2021
After selling its shares to investment company Eurazeo back in 2006, the Volkswagen Group is regaining interest in car rental specialist Europcar. However, after receiving an offer from the German group valuing the company at €2,2 billion, Europecar refused to yield, but it admitted that discussions could continue. “The Board of Directors of Europcar Mobility […]
June 18, 2021
Mobilize, Renault’s new mobility brand, has just presented its upcoming projects for the next few years. With Duo, Bento, and Hippo, the business unit is presenting, among other things, three fully electric shared mobility vehicles for transporting people and goods. Renault first mentioned Mobilize when it presented its ‘Renaulution’ strategy. The new business unit develops […]
June 04, 2021
According to a recent study from audit firm KPMG, the French automotive industry could double its employees and increase its yearly turnover by 2% in twenty years provided it innovates in software, data, and multimodal mobility (MaaS). On the other hand, lack of action could lead to a 60% drop in jobs and revenues. According […]
June 02, 2021
Brussels’ shared bicycles Villo! is set to launch a new award system on its app to reward virtuous behaviors such as reporting breakdowns or taking bikes from full stations and bringing them to empty ones. These awarded points should allow users to book Villo! electric shared bicycles in advance. Operator JCDecaux has also recalled 4 […]
May 31, 2021
Chinese Geely-daughter Lynk & Co struggles to keep its promises for delivering the 01 PHEV on a monthly rental formula in time. In Belgium, candidate ‘members’ who enlisted among the first are warned deliveries might be delayed until September at least three to five months later than intended. According to the company, the brainchild of […]
May 28, 2021
Uber drivers and other ride-hailing professionals are gathering in Brussels today to protest their smartphone ban. Associations are baffled that the government neglects and represses the use of modern technologies, which are inherent to the work of Uber drivers. Protestors are also urging Minister-President Rudi Vervoort (PS) to hold his pledge for consultation announced three […]
May 25, 2021
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted a regulation requiring that rideshare companies begin electrification of their California fleets starting in 2023. This is another step towards meeting the state’s 2030 climate goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels, achieving statewide carbon neutrality by 2045. Clean Miles Standard The ‘Clean […]
May 06, 2021
Taxistop, the platform for shared mobility and the shared Cambio cars, has a new name and logo. The new name – Mpact – is a combination of ‘M’ for mobility and the ‘pact’ the non-profit organization makes with partners and the public to reach sustainable mobility. Mpact wants to create a more effective and better […]
May 06, 2021
The political opposition in Brussels, the (liberal) Mouvement Réformateur (MR), suggests introducing carpool lanes on the six major axes entering the capital. According to the party, it’s a better alternative than the kilometer tax or the reduction of driving lanes. The President of the Mobility Commission at the Brussels Parliament couples that idea to free […]
April 30, 2021
The city of Antwerp has put much effort into realizing the modal shift from fewer cars to more alternative transport means. According to the most recent mobility statistics, in 2010, 51% of Antwerp citizens still used their car to go to work. In 2019, it was 41%, and last year – due to the corona […]
April 27, 2021
Danish car-sharing platform GreenMobility, using 100% electric cars, arrives in Brussels and opens hotspots for its shared cars in three underground car parks. “Thanks to the three hotspots, GreenMobility is the first free-floating partner who allows roaming between Ghent, Antwerp, and Brussels,” explains CEO Steve Van Avermaet. The company, which is already active in Antwerp […]
April 26, 2021
The Flemish master builder Erik Wieërs presented his ambition note “Creating opportunities for meeting” for the period between 2020 and 2025 on Friday. “There has to be a battle where we are going to de-vegetate and de-wild the open space,” Wieërs said. He also thinks that the open space is dominated too much by parked […]
April 23, 2021
Antwerp recently welcomed a new fleet of shared e-scooters. The 400 apple green Go Sharing scooters are riding around in the inner city and the districts, and by the end of the month there will be one hundred more. It makes Go Sharing the largest shared scooter network, and market leader in the Benelux. Go […]
April 22, 2021
Blue-bike, the shared blue bikes platform, and Flemish technology company, Sentinel, are joining forces. Together, they’re going to equip the eye-catching bikes with smart locks. The innovation will make it easier for users to unlock a bicycle, and offer more flexibility for the installation. Sentinel first tried out the technology on its own shared Mobit […]
April 20, 2021
The city of Antwerp has started marking ‘drop zones’ where users of shared e-steps can leave their vehicles after use. It is not compulsory, but the city does strongly recommend the drop zones. The aim is to have a street scene that is a bit neater than it is now, with many e-steps lying around. […]
April 08, 2021
According to a report from French economist Jean-Charles Simon, commissioned by the National Union for Taxi Industries (UNIT), the impressive rise of chauffeur-driven cars and ride-hailing solutions peaked before the Covid-19 pandemic. In France, the number of drivers boomed between 2016 and 2018, but the number of them registered for eligibility tests in Île-de-France dropped […]
March 10, 2021
This Tuesday, BMW and Daimler announced that their Park Now joint venture, specialized in digital parking solutions, is set to be acquired by Swedish group Easypark. No amount has been disclosed, and the transaction is subject to prior approval by relevant authorities. Still in the BMW and Daimler joint venture portfolio, Free Now is joining […]
March 03, 2021
In 2020, cycling grew by 27% in France, and, despite the pandemic, the market increased from € 2,3 billion to € 2,7 billion. This increasing popularity was led by electrically assisted bicycles or e-bikes. Shared bicycle operators observe the same tendency as mechanical bikes in free-floating have nearly disappeared due to their narrow margins of […]
February 24, 2021
Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has started a program to develop the first ‘fully connected city’ in Japan. It will be a big laboratory for all future technologies like autonomous driving, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). The city will be called ‘Woven City’ and installed at the foot of Mount Fuji (central Japan). The purpose is […]
January 19, 2021
Ten Belgian Renault dealer groups have joined forces to promote car-sharing. Under the name Share4Mobility, they want to ensure national coverage, anticipating the trend for less car ownership and more alternative car use. Share4Mobility is the initiative of 10 Belgian Renault dealer groups, representing a yearly car volume of some 80 000 new cars. Autopartners, […]
January 14, 2021
On Thursday, Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo announced a new strategic plan, called Renaulution. The aim is to shift the group’s strategy from volume to value. The plan is structured in three phases: resurrection (up to 2023), renovation (up to 2025), and revolution (from 2025 onward). The Group sets itself also new financial objectives. […]
January 13, 2021
Alain Visser, CEO of Lynk & Co, preaches the revolution. He doesn’t want to sell cars anymore, he wants to lend them monthly, and he wants his clients to share them. In this second part of the interview, he explains how it works. Visser has no high opinion of the current car business. Over the […]
January 07, 2021
The Antwerp civil platform Ringland has developed an online tool for citizens to analyze and improve their mobility behavior. The so-called ‘modal selfie’ is intended to discourage the use of the car and increase the use of alternative transport. But the first thing people need for a modal shift is a mental shift. After all, […]
January 06, 2021
Car-sharing specialist Share Now, the European market leader in the field, has decided to add 70 new, completely electric BMW i3 models to its fleet in Amsterdam. The cars will be gradually introduced in the months to come, but today already 40 of them will be introduced. Share Now has been providing a car-sharing service […]
January 06, 2021
Belgium’s most successful car-sharing service, Cambio, extends its Brussels’ fleet with ten electric cars by the end of the year. Finally, as in the rest of Belgium, the electric offer is already included for some time. Cambio will also launch an experimental offer with 15 electric cargo-bikes for the inner-city. Despite the corona pandemic, Cambio […]
December 30, 2020
Uber is evolving from a taxi service to a mobility platform, and the company wants to make things much greener. Via Uber Green, half of all journeys will be emission-free by 2025. To reduce the CO2 footprint of the various journeys, Uber does not want to offer taxi services exclusively by car. It also wants […]
December 28, 2020
“The electric vehicle boom is threatening to drain communities and the planet resources,” warns SOMO in a report called ‘The Battery Paradox‘. SOMO is a Dutch, ‘critical, and independent non-profit knowledge center’ that focuses on multinationals. SOMO, short for Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen (Foundation for Research of Multinational Enterprises), says it analyses their activities and […]
December 18, 2020
Antwerp will have a new shared e-scooter platform as of February 2021. The Dutch Go Sharing will introduce 500 flashy green electric scooters in the city. Users only have to download the Go Sharing app to find, unlock, and pay for the vehicle. According to the company, the formula is easy and cheap, green, and […]
December 18, 2020
The survey ‘Mobility in your neighborhood’ shows that more than half of the cars of more than 4 000 respondents drive less than 10 000 kilometers a year. Four out of ten respondents also indicate that their second car is not used more than three times a week. These results show that there are still […]
December 15, 2020
The Cambio shared-car platform can present good growth figures, rounding the cape of 25 000 members in 2020 in Flanders. Even plagued by the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of members grew by 15%, perfectly comparable to previous years. Covid-19 did cause a decline in the number of Cambio rides, but the number of users is […]
December 09, 2020
The Flemish government has worked out a Local Energy and Climate Agreement to help Flemish cities and municipalities meet climate goals. The Pact contains four themes with particular attention to public parks and gardens, energy, shared mobility, and water. The government reserves 300 million euros for the project. According to the Flemish Minister of Internal […]
December 08, 2020
Japanese car manufacturer Toyota launches Kinto Europe, a provider of mobility services throughout Europe. Toyota wants to involve its dealer network as much as possible, to keep it alive, of course, and stay in touch longer with the clients. Selling is out. All sorts of ‘renting’ offer many more possibilities to please the customer and […]
December 01, 2020
French supermarket giant, E.Leclerc, joins forces with Groupe Renault to fast-track electric mobility in France. Through its 504 rental agencies, E.Leclerc will offer 3 000 Dacia Spring cars and 1 000 Renault Zoe models for rent from March 1st, 2021. The group also backed the French Transport Ministry’s plan and announced it would extend its […]
December 01, 2020
Car sharing is, in many cases, much cheaper than owning a private car. Especially drivers who drive up to 15 000 km per year are almost cheaper with car sharing. That’s what Autodelen.net reports. Together with the consumer organization Test-Aankoop and Brussels Mobility, the organization is launching a calculator with which everyone can calculate how […]
November 19, 2020
The Chinese vehicle and battery manufacturer BYD and Didi Chuxing (Asia’s Uber) have unveiled an electric car for the express purpose of ride-hailing. Design-wise, the two partners have obviously been inspired by the VW ID.3, but the technology shows ingenuity. The D1 is technically very interesting, and it will potentially serve a huge market. Shared […]
November 13, 2020
The Bolt mobility platform will invest 100 million euros in extending its offer of shared e-scooters and bicycles to more than fifty new cities in Europe, including Brussels, Zurich, and Hamburg. This was announced on Thursday by the Estonian micro-mobility company, headquartered in Tallinn. Bolt plans to operate 130 000 e-scooters and bicycles in 2021 […]
November 13, 2020
The French leasing multinational, ALD Automotive, sees opportunities, especially for electric cars that are less prone to wear out rapidly, to have them ‘leased’ up to their entire lifespan by ‘multi-cycle leasing, used car sales, and multi-channel distribution.’ On Thursday, ALD Automotive, daughter of Société Général, presented its ambitious five-year strategic plan ‘Move 2025’. ALD […]
November 05, 2020
After Lime and Dott, the Santa Monica-based US micro-mobility company, Bird, becomes the third e-scooter distributor in the Belgian capital. The launch happened earlier this week. During the first two weeks of operations in Brussels, Bird offers rides with their dockless e-scooters for just 1 euro (up to 15 minutes each). Bird’s e-steps were already […]
October 23, 2020
Three Antwerp organizations – mobility organization Bycykel, thrift store Kringwinkel, and building material company Ecomat/Circomat – have invested in seven electric cargo bikes and accompanying trailers. Other companies and people living in the neighborhood can borrow those vehicles. The city of Antwerp supports the initiative. “The city wants to support entrepreneurs who offer solutions for […]
October 07, 2020
Arval International, the leasing branch of French international banking group BNP Paribas, has unfolded on Tuesday its ‘strategic plans’ for the next five years. It is resolutely opting for a new business plan focusing on ‘sustainable mobility solutions’ and integrating the leasing car. And this should be preferable an electric one, eventually combined with or […]
September 30, 2020
After banning free-floating parking in certain areas of the Region, Brussels announced it would create dedicated drop-off zones. This Tuesday, the first was installed at the Etterkeek train station, 19 more will follow. The design has been approved by all transport operators for a countrywide homogenous look. Alternative mobility is increasing in Brussels. At the […]
September 29, 2020
Belgium is the first European country to give consumers access to almost all Q-Park parking facilities via the Parkmobile app from the Daimler-BMW joint venture Park Now. Today, users have access to 45 garages with more than 20 000 parking spaces across the country. Cooperation at international level In this way, both companies respond to […]
September 25, 2020
Mechelen is introducing a new platform for shared e-scooters. The new Belgian provider, Hopp, will be operational as of next Sunday and immediately offers 70 e-scooters. Citizens have ten minutes to try them out for free. Shared mobility An earlier experiment with shared e-scooters was a success: in four months, more than 11 000 people […]
September 15, 2020
The red electric shared bicycles of Jump should reappear on the Brussels Region’s street next week. After leaving without drum or trumpet as the coronavirus lockdown hit in late March, the free-floating service comes back under the umbrella of American e-scooter operator Lime. “We hope to be back next week. Brussels citizens have largely modified their […]
September 11, 2020
Belgian telecom operator, Proximus, is considering selling its mobility daughter Be-Mobile, also the owner of the popular Dutch navigation service Flitsmeister. It appointed a merchant bank to study the ‘strategic options’, newspaper De Tijd writes quoting a source close to the dossier. Proximus itself didn’t want to comment. According to De Tijd, the ‘strategic exercise’ […]
September 09, 2020
Insurance start-up Mobly, a subsidiary of Baloise, and Europ Assistance are launching a new MaaS (Mobility as a Service) app designed for alternative mobility solutions. With MovEasy, clients and employees of partnered companies can book and use a series of alternative transport solutions, from shared cars to bicycles or taxis. The app also allows stranded […]
September 09, 2020
Samen Sterker, a group purchase organization, linked with the socialist party sp.a and the union ABVV, organizes once again a group purchase for electric cars. Subscribers can save up to €6 700 for an EV purchase. It makes some EVs cheaper than their ICE counterparts. Samen Sterker already organized a similar purchase action in 2017, […]
September 08, 2020
American company and self-proclaimed world leader in car-sharing, Getaround, will install twelve new fixed car-sharing stations in the city of Brussels. With 24 new city cars made available by Getaround, the fleet dot shared-cars in Brussels will count 186 cars, to which must be added those of Poppy available in free-floating. “It’s very good news […]
September 08, 2020
The Symone Project, dreamt out by three young French entrepreneurs, aims at gathering cars on a truck and trailer for long-distance highway journeys. Up to seven cars can be packed up at the back while passengers enjoy a comfortable journey in a dedicated passenger area. As soon as the solution is available, Symone trucks will […]
September 07, 2020
Electric car-sharing operator Zen Car, active in Belgium since 2011, goes into judicial reorganization. After showing difficulties to make the car-sharing model work in Belgium, and a failed attempt to work on B2B solutions, the coronavirus crisis put the final nail in Zen Car’s coffin. The company is now in the hands of a court […]
August 25, 2020
The Brussels non-profit organization Remorquable just received European subsidies to develop its bicycle trailer renting platform. Subscription-based, the system allows anyone to add the 1,2 meter-long and 60 cm-wide trailer at the back of their bicycle for a maximum of 24 hours. Remorquable’s offer counts four trailers and three bicycles but the young non-profit aims […]
July 31, 2020
After seven years, the Bolloré group throws in the towel on its car-sharing service Bluely in Lyon, France. Comparable to Paris’ Autolib’, the service will stop on August 31. Bruno Bernard, President of Lyon’s metropolis, says he’s looking to implement a comparable service in acceptable deadlines. Just like they did in Paris at the end […]
July 30, 2020
The sector of shared (e-)bikes and (e-)scooters is severely affected by the corona crisis. People are afraid to use them for fear of contamination. It also explains the increased sales of second-hand cars. The old slogan ‘My car, my freedom’ has changed into ‘My car, my safety’. International trend Since the corona crisis, our mobility […]
July 24, 2020
Flanders launches the new mobility brand ‘Hoppin’. With Hoppin, all available mobility solutions become more recognizable in the street scene, which should make it easier for commuters to combine transport options. Flemish Minister of Mobility and Public Works, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), will make 100 million euros available for some 1 000 mobility points in […]
July 02, 2020
Swapfiets, the company with the iconic shared bicycles with the blue front tire, is planning to conquer the European capitals. On Thursday, the company has announced to expand its working territory to London, Paris, and Milan before the end of this year. On top of that, Swapfiets offers some new e-mobility products. 200 000 subscribers […]
July 01, 2020
The city of Leuven already offers shared cars from Cambio and Partago, but on Wednesday, June 1st, the city introduces shared cargo bikes from the Dutch company Cargoroo. In the first phase, nine vehicles will be parked in the inner city and on two locations in Kessel-Lo. Later this year, the number will go up […]
