December 03, 2020
Travelers who want to combine their train journey in the Netherlands with a shared scooter or car ride can do so from this Thursday onward in a single app, the so-called NS Lab app. These are electric cars and electric scooters a traveler can reserve shortly before use. In the NS Lab app, an app […]
December 03, 2020
Car manufacturer VDL Nedcar in Born (The Netherlands) is going to cut 750 jobs. According to a spokesperson of the company, 150 permanent and 600 temporary jobs will be lost. The decision has been taken because the German premium car manufacturer, BMW, will order fewer cars. Sales of new cars collapsed due to the corona […]
December 03, 2020
Dutch cargo transporters have paid 22 million euros too much toll in Germany in recent years. This has been calculated by the Dutch Transport and Logistic (TLN) following the European Court of Justice ruling in October. The trade association calls on entrepreneurs to report so that money can be reclaimed together. According to TLN, this […]
December 03, 2020
Mowasalat, Qatar’s public transport company, has ordered 1002 buses from Chinese bus builder Yutong to be used at the World Football Cup 2022. 741 of them will be fully electric, which is, according to Yutong, the “largest order for e-buses ever”. The order is valued at 1,8 billion yuan, some 230 million euros. According to […]
December 03, 2020
‘Limburg Hydrogen Society’ a consortium of companies and institutions active in the Belgian province, has the ambition to produce green hydrogen locally and have a filling station operational in Genk by 2023. The goal for participating partners like logistics company H.Essers, Ikea, Lidl, or inter-municipal waste treatment company Limburg.net, among others, is to have their […]
December 03, 2020
BMW’s daughter Mini has now officially announced the development of electric vehicle models for the performance brand John Cooper Works. The development of a Mini John Cooper Works Electric is specifically mentioned. However, performance data are not yet mentioned in the announcement. “With the Mini Cooper SE (E from Electric), we’ve shown how well brand-typical […]
December 02, 2020
French car manufacturer Citroën is launching its new C4 model on the market. We were able to have a short drive in it, also the interesting pure electric model ë-C4. There has been a time gap between the old C4 and this new one at Citroën, a gap the manufacturer has tried to fill up […]
December 02, 2020
Antwerp wants to reduce its CO2 emissions by 50 to 55% by 2030. According to Antwerp Alderman for the Environment, Tom Meeuws (sp.a), the city has the ambition to become a European example of climate policy. And the plan is feasible, with clear measures to get there, he explains in De Tijd, among others. Antwerp […]
December 02, 2020
During the recent Walloon Road Safety summit, five topics have risen to enhance safety on the region’s road and reduce the death toll. Based on reviews and propositions from a panel of 10 000 citizens, authorities aim to intensify controls and penalties, promote preventive sanctions, develop infrastructure for vulnerable road users, and raise awareness about […]
December 02, 2020
The love for Tesla has cooled down considerably in the Netherlands after the record year 2019. Sales fell back by 73% over the last eleven months of this year, financial newspaper FD writes, based on the car sector figures. And it has everything to do with tax measures. Corona is, like everywhere else, a key […]
December 02, 2020
It was already announced earlier, on Tuesday, the South-Korean car manufacturer Hyundai Group officially presented its new EV platform. E-GMP or Electric Global Modular Platform should form the basis for all future EVs (23 before 2025) within the Hyundai Group (Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis). The first car with the new chassis within the group will […]
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
Until now, an electric car is bought by people who have enough money and belong already to a settled middle class. As many competitors are withdrawing themselves from the smallest segments, VW is considering producing a tiny electric vehicle, called ID.1 or ID.2, depending on the size. It seems that the newcomer is rather Polo-sized, […]
December 01, 2020
The greenhouse gas emissions of the European Union’s 27 member states decreased by 3,7% in 2019. Compared to the reference year 1990, they even reduced by 24%. According to Frans Timmermans, the European Commissioner for the European Green Deal, the EU can meet its ambitious goal to become climate-neutral by 2050. “The European Union shows […]
December 01, 2020
German carmaker Audi recently announced that its motorsport division would compete in the 2022 Dakar Rally with an innovative prototype. An electric drivetrain will power the machine that is built specifically for the task with a high-voltage battery. It can be charged on demand by a gasoline TFSI engine. Audi wishes that experience gained from […]
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 […]
December 01, 2020
American carmaker General Motors is withdrawing from its deal with electric truck start-up Nikola to become a shareholder and co-develop and build the latter’s Badger pickup. As that project was only viable with an established carmaker’s help, Nikola decided to ditch the Badger, for the time being, and refund people that preordered it. GM will […]
December 01, 2020
The second generation of Toyota’s hydrogen car Mirai is very different from its predecessor. As a consequence, the number one Japanese car manufacturer has much higher ambitions for Mirai II. It wants to sell at least ten times more Mirai II models and prepare the field for real hydrogen-based mobility. One of the principal aims […]
December 01, 2020
Dutch environmentalist organization, Milieudefensie, and six others backed up by 17 000 citizens as co-plaintiffs have taken Shell to court in The Hague in an attempt to force the oil giant to cut worldwide CO2 emissions by 45% in 2030, compared to 1990. It’s the world’s first that an oil company is sued for ‘climate […]
November 30, 2020
Flanders has dedicated €125 million of its post-corona €4,3 billion ‘Resilion-plan’ for research and innovation in the field of hydrogen as a green alternative energy. ‘Only’ 125 million, as compared to €9 billion Germany is betting on hydrogen and France’s €7 billion. In the Flemish ‘Hydrogen Vision’ plan, the current government says to see few […]
November 30, 2020
Last year, one in ten drivers were involved in a traffic accident. In 2019, the Belgian insurance companies registered 331 516 traffic accidents or an average of about 908 per day. That is what the annual barometer of umbrella organization Assuralia reveals. The statistics, reported in the Südpresse newspapers, did not consider professional vehicles like […]
November 30, 2020
The Flemish government aims for 40% more solar energy by 2025, or an extra 1 500 megawatts (MW). One way to achieve these targets is to introduce a solar panel premium of up to 1 500 euros. The aim is for 27 000 families to be entitled to this premium each year. This is stated […]
November 30, 2020
The Seamade wind park with 58 windmills off the coast of Ostend is finished. It will produce the equivalent of electricity for the consumption of some 500 000 families. “Belgium is number four worldwide in the field of wind energy at sea, and we have the determined ambition to remain world leader,” says Energy Minister […]
November 29, 2020
A survey by HR specialist Acerta has revealed that four out of ten Belgians are incapable of performing their jobs from home. “There will always be jobs that can’t be done off-site,” says Hannelore Van Meldert, manager and telecommuting expert with Acerta. The survey on telecommuting was committed in collaboration with Indiville and questioned 2 […]
November 27, 2020
Addax Motors, a small Belgian manufacturer of custom-designed electric vans for last-mile deliveries or city and leisure utility e-vans, is getting a capital injection of €8 million to expand further in Europe. The Belgian State comes on board via the Federal Holding and Investment Company, joining consultancy firm Resultance and a non-disclosed family investor. Addax, […]
November 27, 2020
The Chinese car manufacturer Aiways, a fairly recent start-up for electric mobility based in Shanghai, is expanding its European market presence. Following the sales launch of the battery-electric Aiways U5, the company is now setting up a European spare parts warehouse. The central warehouse will be located in the Fokker Logistik Park Schiphol, near Amsterdam, […]
November 27, 2020
Hyundai Group is experiencing a growing demand for electrified cars. This suits them well, especially in Europe, where stringent CO2 targets have to be met. Like some of its direct competitors, the Group is rolling out an EV offensive in the next five years. On Thursday, the Group declared that it would export more than […]
November 27, 2020
According to a recent study conducted by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), ordered by the European Commission, airline contrails warm the planet twice as much as CO2. A team of leading experts in the field from the EU, the UK, and Norway discovered that, apart from CO2, the jet engine emissions also contain […]
November 27, 2020
On Thursday, French train manufacturer Alstom announced having signed a contract with the regional Italian rail operator, Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM), to deliver six hydrogen trains. The manufacturer has converted its Coradia regional train platform to fuel cell technology to become a viable alternative for diesel on non-electrified train lines. Alstom is steaming ahead in […]
November 27, 2020
Although the Flemish public transport company, De Lijn, has suspended the purchase of 970 fully electric buses and the associated charging infrastructure, it has already concluded a cooperation agreement with the operator of the electricity network, Fluvius. Both companies will set up a joint project team to coordinate their investment plans, which they announced on […]
November 26, 2020
Consumer organizations and NGOs have been critical (again) about the official fuel consumption figures for new cars. Transport & Environment has published a report about the consumption of PHEVs. Consumer organizations now offer an online tool for people to monitor the real-life fuel consumption of their cars. Meanwhile, the sales of plug-in hybrid cars are […]
November 26, 2020
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sees a case for a compact, probably ‘hatchback’ type of a compact Tesla, designed by Europeans for Europe specifically. Experiencing it is tough to find a parking spot for the Tesla X he drove in Berlin convinced him of the idea. Tesla plans, apart from the factory it’s building near Berlin, […]
November 26, 2020
The Antwerp Kennedy tunnel will get a completely new and intelligent LED lighting system to replace the old-fashioned installation with sodium lights. The works are planned for autumn 2021 and spring 2022. The news was confirmed by the Agency for Roads and Traffic (Agentschap Wegen en Verkeer, AWV) According to AWV, LED lights should improve […]
November 26, 2020
Renault’s Flins plant in France will undergo a drastic transformation to become Europe’s first factory dedicated to the circular economy of mobility. Production of the electric Zoe will end by 2024, after which the factory will concentrate on remanufacturing young second-hand cars, retrofitting ICE cars to electric and battery recycling. By 2030, the Flins plant […]
November 26, 2020
The Antwerp province governor, Cathy Berx, wants to convince local authorities to opt for the lowest speed limit. On roads with conflicting crossings and without separate bicycle paths, 30 km/hour should become standard. However, more than half of Belgians (55%) don’t like a general speed limit of 30 km/hour in all cities. Contrary to the […]
November 26, 2020
The low-emission zones (LEZ) in Antwerp and Ghent have an impact on these cities and reduce the number of polluting cars throughout Flanders. This is shown by a study carried out by the Flemish Environment Agency and the Environment Department on behalf of Flemish Minister of the Environment, Zuhal Demir (N-VA). A decrease in old […]
November 25, 2020
For years now, the Netherlands has been in the throes of the nitrogen problem. Recent research shows that the problem is found in a small number of livestock farms responsible for an overload of nitrogen deposits in nature areas. Investico, a platform for investigative journalism, has calculated that there are huge differences between farms. One […]
November 25, 2020
On a three-day ‘European Conference on Batteries’ hosted this week online by the German EU presidency, it turns out already 500 companies have joined the alliance for ‘an Airbus of Batteries’. The European Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is confident that “by 2025, the EU will be able to produce enough battery cells to meet the need […]
November 25, 2020
The Australian airline company Qantas will only welcome passengers on its international flights when they have been vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus. That’s what the Qantas CEO Alan Joyce announced on Tuesday. The man is convinced this measure will become standard in the sector. It will be applied as soon as the vaccine is available. […]
November 25, 2020
On Tuesday, Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) confirmed during Parliament discussions about the Brussels Region’s 2021 budget that 1,4 billion euros will be dedicated to mobility. Allocations to the public transport company, Stib/Mivb, will reach €945 million to enhance accessibility, greener buses, and increase metro and tram frequency. “Brussels is changing. The Brussels […]
November 25, 2020
The number of fatal traffic accidents during the first nine months of the year decreased by 16% compared to last year. The number of injured people went down (-20%), according to the safety barometer of traffic safety institute Vias. The reason for the decline is the lockdown. Remarkable is that in Flanders, the number of […]
November 25, 2020
One of the consequences of the energy transition is storing renewable energy to be used when necessary. For example, when the wind isn’t blowing, or a thick cloud deck hides the sun. On Tuesday, we brought the news about the largest battery storage park in Belgium, which will be built in Bastogne in the first […]
November 24, 2020
American engine multinational Cummins will set up a new factory in Herten in Germany’s Ruhr Area to assemble fuel cell systems used in the Alstom Coradia iLint hydrogen trains to start with. Yesterday it published a survey about the consumer attitude toward hydrogen-based traveling. Cummins, generally known as a diesel and gas engine expert for […]
November 24, 2020
Belgian federal government has to make a final decision this year or in January at last, on the possibility of keeping two reactors in the Doel and Tihange nuclear power plants open longer than 2025. This is what the chairman of the French energy group Engie, Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, said on Monday. Meanwhile, the debate in […]
November 24, 2020
Dutch fast-charger company Fastned has won the tender by French highway operator Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône (APRR) to build nine fast-charging stations on the route from Paris to Lyon and from Dijon to Switzerland. Each station will accommodate 16 electric cars simultaneously; the largest Fastned has built so far. In particular, Dutch electric drivers will appreciate being […]
November 24, 2020
Apparently, BMW is proceeding to the final tests of a fully electric version of its 3 Series sedan. For the time being, it will only be launched and sold in China under the name BMW i330e. According to the specialized Spanish portal motor.es, the car is based on the long-wheelbase version of the 3 Series […]
November 24, 2020
Belgian public-private consortium EStor-Lux readies to install the country’s first large-scale, 10 MW battery energy storage system in Bastogne. Planned to be operational by mid-2021, this storage pack will bring flexibility to the Walloon grid by stabilizing demand with a sustainable and carbon-neutral supply of electricity when needed. “This is an important step, demonstrating that […]
November 24, 2020
Researchers at the Catholic University of Louvain succeeded in opening a Tesla Model X from a distance, and the technicians were even able to drive away with it. It is not the first time bugs have been discovered in the American car manufacturer’s security system. Like most cars, you can open and close the Model […]
November 24, 2020
Last Friday, Volkswagen has rescheduled the American launch of its electric ID.4 model from December 2020 to March 2021, a spokesperson confirmed after Automotive News reporting it. According to the latter, VW wants to prioritize the EU markets to meet this year’s CO2 targets for the group and avoid heavy fines. Volkswagen will keep a […]
November 24, 2020
Air quality in Europe has improved in the last ten years, but there are still about 400 000 premature deaths caused by air pollution. That is what a recent report by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) revealed. Air pollution is the European citizens’ worst enemy when it comes to people’s health. It causes respiratory and […]
November 24, 2020
General Motors CEO, Mary Barra, has withdrawn her support of the Trump administration in its effort to deny the State of California the right to fix its own rules regarding pollution. Barra seems to be leading the movement of many industry bosses in the US who are now turning toward the new president, Joe Biden. […]
November 23, 2020
More and more taxi companies in the Netherlands are fed up with their Tesla vehicles’ reliability problems. Meanwhile, other Tesla clients consider starting a class action against the manufacturer because the cars are too often immobilized. At the moment, there are a lot of taxis at a standstill in and around Amsterdam, especially Schiphol. Air […]
November 23, 2020
Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), will invest 30 million euros in new public charging points. Today, there are 3 920 public charging points and 96 public fast-charging points in Flanders. This extra investment will add up to 30 000 additional charging points over the next five years. A fast-charging station will be […]
November 23, 2020
American car manufacturer General Motors is launching an “all-out pursuit of global EV leadership,” GM CEO Mary Barra announced. By 2025, the US number one carmaker wants to have 30 electric models and intends to raise investment from $20 to 27 billion. The planned electric vehicles go from a $-30 000 to well over $100 […]
November 23, 2020
The Belgian grid manager Elia is convinced electric vehicles will become an important player to integrate renewable energy into our electricity network. The electric fleet could serve as a huge battery. Today, the transport sector represents one-quarter of European CO2 emissions. Now that the technology for electric vehicles is mature, the mobility sector can enable […]
November 23, 2020
German and Chinese carmakers Daimler end Geely are joining forces to develop and build together a new generation of gasoline engines for hybrids for all the brands of both partners, including Mercedes-Benz and Volvo. The press release last week said the hybrid engine is to be manufactured in Europa and China, but exporting it from […]
November 20, 2020
Toyota indicates that the Mirai Mk2 will be launched on the Japanese market and in the United States at the end of 2020. Whether and when this version will come to Europe could not be confirmed by the Belgian importer. Japanese market takes the lead After a career of six years, Toyota replaces its first […]
November 20, 2020
Even if we continue teleworking, traffic pressure will remain high. That is the conclusion of a study by the Federal Planning Bureau (Federaal Planbureau, FPB). It probably has to become one of the ingredients of a larger set of measures to solve our actual mobility problems. Although teleworking is a structural way to improve mobility […]
November 20, 2020
The city of Antwerp is going to deploy two ‘zero-emission’ garbage trucks on hydrogen as part of the European REVIVE project. Revive stands for ‘Refuse Vehicle Innovation and Validation in Europe’, a four-year project that started in 2018 to test 15 fuel cell refuse trucks in several cities in Europe and promote hydrogen as an […]
November 20, 2020
The European Commission intends to invest 800 billion euros in offshore wind farms over the next coming decades. This should lead to a fivefold increase in offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. In 2050, there should be even 25 times as many wind turbines in European waters as there are today. This is stated in […]
