Transport Archives

Environment / Legislation / Top Stories Today / Transport

‘Kilometer tax for trucks almost completed greening goal’

Gert Verhoeven Posted On January 17, 2022

The kilometer charge for trucks works because the proportion of clean trucks on Belgian roads is steadily increasing, with 80% of the trucks being of the latest Euro 6 standard. The increase is so significant, in fact, that Viapass is proposing making the rules stricter in the future, even for electric trucks.

In 2021, revenues also increased by 12% to just over 814 million euros. “The largest share (529 million) of this revenue was generated in Flanders, followed by Wallonia (274 million), and Brussels (9,9 million), and almost half was paid by holders of Belgian license plates,” Johan Schoups, Administrator General of Viapass, states.

In 2016, the kilometer tax for trucks was introduced in Belgium. This additional driving tax does not exist for light vans. On the one hand, the levy is intended to reduce congestion on certain routes. On the other hand, the kilometer charge aims to make the truck fleet greener, because the cleaner the emission standard, the lower the charge.

Difficult to further green the fleet

Today, Viapass, the organization that organizes the toll, indicates that more than 80% of the vehicles that had to pay a toll met the strictest Euro 6 standard. Euro 5 vehicles accounted for 15%, and the rest were even older trucks.

Those trucks often drive fewer kilometers and are less likely to be replaced soon by newer, cleaner trucks Viapass estimates. So it will be difficult to further ‘green’ the trucking fleet with this set of standards.

Electric trucks also damage roads

Because most vehicles today already meet the Euro 6 standard and, by extension, pay the lowest tax, there is growing support for tightening the rules. This would mean a tariff increase for Euro 6 trucks to give a boost to the transition to electrically powered vehicles in the future.

Schoups wants to think about a new tariff, but he does not believe that electric vehicles should benefit from a zero tariff because they also cause damage to the road infrastructure. The various governments are also thinking about the issue, but there is currently no consensus.

Legislation / Mobility / Road safety / Top Stories Today / Transport

Flanders adds rain sensors to enforce passing restrictions for trucks

Hilde Van Raemdonck Posted On January 14, 2022

Flanders is planning to intensify the enforcement of the passing restrictions for truckers when it rains. The Flemish authorities, therefore, want to equip 19 locations with precipitation sensors by the end of this year. They should help the police force to check on infringements.

The Flemish traffic regulation stipulates that trucks of 7,5 tons or more are not allowed to overtake when it rains or snows. The regulation is valid since 2004, but the measure is hard to enforce. There have been plans to work out a control system with ANPR cameras and pluviometers, but a watertight solution was never realized.

Smart cameras

Now, the Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), is planning to introduce a new type of technical installation with a smart camera that can check whether trucks respect the passing restrictions when it rains. The device also checks whether in-between distances are respected.

A second device can simultaneously check whether the truck is overloaded. “By the end of this year, 19 locations will be equipped with such devices,” Minister Peeters explained to newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. “On some locations, we will even combine all functionalities.”

Drop in the ocean

The province of Antwerp will get most (5) of the checkpoints. In East Flanders, there will be installed four, and Flemish Brabant, West Flanders, and Limburg will get three. The cameras will always be installed on the main axes connecting the largest cities. This also means that the plans are just a drop in the ocean because the largest part of the road network will not be checked.

Some of these new installations are already being tested in Bertem and Erpe-Mere but they’re not functioning autonomously. The police still have to record the infringements. This means that the images of ‘potential infringers’ arrive at the police office as camera images. So a police officer still has to verify them and make a report of the offense.

The question remains whether the police are sufficiently manned for the additional tasks?

Climate / Mobility / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

One million containers shipped by inland navigation in Flanders

Luc Joris Posted On January 10, 2022

More than one million twenty-foot containers (TEU) have been transported on the Flemish waterways for the first time in a year. That is what De Vlaamse Waterweg, which exploits the navigable waterways in Flanders, has announced. The Albert Canal remains with 705 192 TEU shipped, the most crucial channel in Flanders in this respect.

In 2021, ships carried 1 022 607 twenty-foot containers through Flanders. This is an increase of almost 4% compared to 2020. Most of these containers (705 192) were transported on the Albert Canal, Flanders’ most important waterway.

Expressed in tons, goods transported by inland waterways increased by 2,9 million to 71,9 tons (+4,23%). According to De Vlaamse Waterweg, this amounts to more than 2,87 million avoided truck trips. “This increase is noticeable in the whole Flanders,” says De Vlaamse Waterweg. “The three main axes all saw more goods passing through by water.”

Especially fuels transported

For the axis consisting of the sea channel Brussels-Scheldt and the canal to Charleroi, the increase is the largest with almost 11%. On the axis Scheldt-Leie, goods transport increased by 8%, on the Albert Canal by 3,5%.

Especially the transport of solid fuels (+36%), metal products (+25%), ores (+16%), and agricultural products (+13%) increased last year. Petroleum products (-6%) and food and feed (-3%) were transported less by inland navigation.

“These top figures prove that inland shipping is a strong and reliable transport mode,” says Flemish Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open Vld). “That is excellent news for mobility and the climate in Flanders. A mental shift in companies will also remain a driving force in the coming years.”

In the coming years, the Vlaamse Waterweg will also continue to work on raising the level of the bridges over the Albert Canal and the expansion of the Seine-Scheldt connection.

Mobility / Services / Top Stories Today / Transport

Jumbo supermarket and flash courier Gorillas join forces

Luc Joris Posted On January 4, 2022

Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo will have its groceries delivered in ten minutes by the flash couriers of Gorillas. For now, the cooperation only concerns the eleven Dutch and the Flemish cities of Antwerp where the deliverers of Gorillas are active.

As part of the agreement, Jumbo will deliver a large part of the assortment to Gorillas, including various A-brands, Jumbo private label, organic and exclusive La Place products, a restaurant chain owned by Jumbo. With the collaboration, Jumbo wants to respond to flash delivery as an important innovation in the sector and hopes to grow its online sales as well.

Customer retention

Especially among young city dwellers, flash deliveries are now enormously popular. With its deal with the Berlin-based Gorillas, one of Europe’s fastest-growing start-ups with an investment of 1,1 billion euros, Jumbo seems to want to respond to this trend.

The cooperation will not immediately translate into higher profits for Jumbo, economic specialists predict. Since supermarket chain Albert Heijn started home delivery in the Netherlands in the late eighties, no supermarket has ever earned a euro on it. It is mainly about customer retention.

Eventually, flash deliveries will certainly be profitable, other market experts believe. But first, one company has to become the biggest. The four flash couriers that are currently active in the Netherlands – Gorillas, Flink, Getir, and Zapp – try to outdo each other with bottom prices and substantial discount codes.

In Belgium, it’s the same situation. Those who place an order with Gorillas, for example, pay 1,8 euros per delivery in Belgium. By way of comparison: who has goods delivered to his home by Delhaize, pays at least 5,95 euros. Carrefour asks for 5 euros.

Only when the consumer has committed to one app will that party be able to raise delivery and product costs and the actual costs will be passed on.

No Sunday allowance

Couriers of Gorillas also complained to De Volkskrant about bad working conditions. They were, for example, paid too little and too late (in Belgium, no complaints have been identified for the time being, but in Germany, things have already started to rumble). Jumbo wants to switch to the new e-commerce collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for all online activities, which will also cover the Gorillas couriers.

A difference with the supermarket CBA is that in that CBA, which was signed by the union De Unie, there is no question of a Sunday allowance, among other things.

Focus on Flanders

In Flanders, Gorillas is currently only active in Antwerp, but new towns can be added. According to De Tijd, the Brussels activities of Gorillas are not part of the deal. “We focus first on Dutch-speaking customers,” said Jumbo CEO Ton van Veen, to the newspaper.

By focusing on flash deliveries, Jumbo hopes to further grow its online sales. In 2021, Jumbo sold 30% more via the internet than in the year before. The turnover from online activities amounted to 650 million euros, more than 6,5% of the total turnover of 9,9 billion euros. However, the Dutch chain is not yet active in Belgium with its webshop.

In other markets, Gorillas has already signed cooperation agreements with national retailers, such as Tesco in Great Brittain, and Casino Group in France. Both in the Netherlands and Belgium, the company will expand further in 2022. Today, it is already active in 54 European cities in eight countries.

Environment / Europe / Export / Legislation / Top Stories Today / Transport

France no longer allows 44 ton international trucks

Luc Joris Posted On January 3, 2022

From 1 January this year, France restricts international freight transport by trucks over 44 tons. More than 40 tons will only be permitted for intermodal transport by French trucks. France has ended all ambiguity surrounding the maximum weight for cross-border transport with the new legislation.

The UPTR, the Professional Union of Transport and Logistics in Belgium, is not happy with the change in legislation. They see it as an attempt to hinder the freedom of the market and accuse France of severe environmental damage. It is expected that with the new regulation, an additional 26 000 trucks will be needed for Belgian transport companies to get the same payload of goods to France.

European Transport Directive

France increased the maximum weight allowed for trucks from 40 to 44 tons in 2013. This increase formally applies only to national transport. For cross-border transport, the mandatory rules of the European Transport Directive apply.

On this basis, the maximum weight is 40 or 44 tons for intermodal transport. For national transport, the directive allows countries to permit higher weights. The Netherlands, with 50 tons, and Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Italy with 44 tons, among others, make use of this.

Unfair competition

In practice, however, 44 tons were also widely used between the Benelux and France. Officially it was not allowed, but mainly shippers saw it differently. According to them, there was no legal basis on which it would not be prohibited.

In many tenders, transporters were more or less forced to assume a weight of 44 tons. Those who did adhere to the EU rules were putting themselves out of business.

This situation obviously created a lot of unfair competition. Therefore, several transport organizations urged the European Commission to do something about this. Ultimately this led to France amending its legislation.

Belgium’s aggregates sector affected

According to Michel Calozet, managing director of Fediex, the Belgian federation of the extractive industry, this change will mainly penalize trucks transporting aggregates (stone, pebbles, sand, etc.) because it is for this material, which is rather cheap and weights a lot, that the difference in tonnage will have the biggest impact on the transport bill.

“By going from 44 to 40 T, this means a 15% loss in the payload for an aggregate truck and, therefore, 15% more trucks,” says Michaël Reul of UPTR in Sud Presse. “For aggregates alone, transfers between France and Belgium are estimated at 6 000 000 T per year, i.e. almost 214 000 trucks per year. The loss of 4 T of the payload will result in 26 000 more trucks on the road, increasing CO2 emissions with the same factor, per year.”

Legal action

Even though the new regulation is formally in compliance with the French laws and the legislation of the EU, Fediex and UPTR have lodged an appeal with the French council of State to annul this provision, “which suits French quarrymen well facing the Belgian competition”.

Especially the regions of Tournaisis (limestone deposits for infrastructure works) and Lessines (porphyry deposits for railway ballast) will be the most affected by this new regulation, but other regions (Charleroi, Brabant-Wallon) are also concerned. But the procedure is likely to be very long: one year at least, five years at the worst.

Even if the decision would fit within a strategy of sustainable greening of freight transport, by promoting the modal shift to the least polluting modes of transport and supporting the decarbonization of road vehicles, the two federations have their backs against the wall, they say.

“If the argument is to push for transport by boat or by train, we reply that the Seine-Northern Europe Canal project will not allow this modal shift to take place before at least 2030. As for the trains, they do not allow material to be brought to the construction site and Infrabel, the manager of the Belgian train network, does not invest.”

Industry / Top Stories Today / Transport

Sales of commercial vehicles also down in November

Tony Verhelle Posted On December 24, 2021

According to figures of the European car manufacturers association ACEA, new commercial vehicle registrations across the EU retreated (-14,7%) for the fifth consecutive month in November.

The van segment’s double-digit drop weighed heavily on the overall result, as vans accounted for over 80% of total commercial vehicle sales in the European Union. The region’s four major markets posted substantial declines last month, with the sharpest drop seen in Spain (-30,4%).

During the first 11 months of 2021, nevertheless, European Union commercial vehicle registrations remained up by 11,5%, still benefiting from 2020’s low base for comparison due to the pandemic.

The largest markets still performed well so far this year, especially Italy (+17,6%) and France (+9,4%), although the percentage increases in Germany (+1,3%) and Spain (+0,6%) fell significantly compared to earlier months.

LCVs

Last month, the market for new vans in the European Union saw another double-digit decline (-16,6%) as the ongoing shortage of semiconductors continued to hamper vehicle output. The region’s performance was not helped by the weak results of the major EU markets: Spain (-33,0%), Germany (-24,7%), Italy (-16,2%), and France (-12,1%).

From January to November, EU light commercial vehicle registrations were still up by 10,8% at 1,4 million units, despite the weak performance of recent months.

Looking at the largest markets for new vans, Italy (+17,1%) and France (+9,7%) managed to remain in positive territory, while cumulative volumes in Germany (+0,4%) and Spain (-0,4%) were more or less stable compared to 2020.

HCVs and buses

In November, heavy truck (over 16 tons) sales in the European Union declined less steeply (-3,5%) than vans. The Central European countries continued to provide positive support (+13,4%) to the region’s performance, but this was not enough to offset the double-digit drops posted by the four major markets in Western Europe. So far, in 2021, 219 595 new heavy trucks were registered across the European Union, up 21,0% compared to the same period one year ago.

Last month, EU demand for medium-heavy trucks (up to 16 tons) contracted by 6,0%, counting 23,678 units sold. A similar evolution to the heavy-truck segment. Eleven months into 2021, new truck sales in the European Union increased by 16,6% year-to-date, with 264 031 units registered in total.

Last but not least, the buses. In November 2021, buses were the only segment showing a slight increase (+1,6%) in new registrations. Except for France (-6,5%), all key EU markets made a positive contribution to last month’s growth: Italy (+14,4%), Spain (+7,8%), and Germany (+5,1%). From January to November, new bus and coach registrations across the EU grew by +2,3% to reach 26 101 units.

All-in-all, we see that the commercial vehicles market is not suffering as much from the chip shortage as the passenger car market. Still, nevertheless, sales are gloomy, especially when one considers that comparisons are made with the year 2020, the year of the pandemic.

Legislation / Mobility / Road safety / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport

Only 65% of truck drivers under 35 wear their seatbelts

Gert Verhoeven Posted On December 22, 2021

The Flemish Road Safety Foundation starts a campaign for truck drivers and transport companies to raise their awareness to wear their seatbelts better and more often because research shows that there is still room for improvement.

A survey by the Flemish Traffic Research Foundation (Vlaamse Stichting Verkeerskunde, VSV) among truck drivers in Flanders has shown that 78% of drivers say they always wear their safety belts. It is striking that this figure is considerably lower, especially among younger drivers, as only 65% of truck drivers under 35 wear their seatbelts.

Motorists do better

Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), Flemish Minister for Mobility, therefore, launches the new campaign “Together we will become world champion in buckling up”. The Minister states “that seat belt use in cars is very well known to almost everyone, but unfortunately this is not the case for truck drivers”.

The survey shows that there is a persistent minority (12%) who say they almost never wear a seatbelt. The figures are even more striking among younger drivers (under 35) where only 65% consequently wear their seatbelt.

As the main reason for not using the safety system, they indicate that it limits their freedom of movement. It is also striking that drivers who do not have a warning system (light or audible signal) in their vehicle, only use their seat belt in 6 out of 10 cases. About 20% of the trucks do not have such a control system yet.

Stupid and expensive

As with cars, seatbelts save lives. Without a seatbelt, you can be fatally injured in a collision at a speed of 20 km/hour. With the belt, you have a chance of survival up to 100 km/hour. Apart from that, wearing a seatbelt is compulsory by law. In case of a violation, you can get away with an immediate fine of 116 euros, but if you have to appear in court, the bill can rise to 2 000 euros.

Another frequently heard argument for not wearing a seatbelt is the presence of electronic safety systems such as driver assistance systems or airbags. ‘I do have airbags’, is usually quoted. The fact is that the seatbelt is and remains the most important safety system in the car, averse to all electronics.

Chance of surviving

What’s more, the belt and the airbag together form one protection system, because together they ensure that the driver and the passenger remain in their seats, where they have the best chance of surviving an impact.

There are even vehicles in which the airbag is not triggered when the seat belt is not fastened, to avoid extra injuries. After all, an airbag deploys at a speed of between 200 and 300 km/hour, and that is only desirable if the person remains in place through the belt…

Environment / Industry / Product / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

Nikola delivers its first battery-electric Tre trucks in US

Joris Van Roy Posted On December 21, 2021

American electric truckmaker Nikola has finally delivered its first two battery-electric Tre trucks in the US in a pilot project with Southern California trucking company Total Transportation Services Inc. (TTSI) at the Los Angeles harbor. Two FCEV trucks for the project are to follow later. Nikola’s Tre truck is basically a European-built Iveco.

This is the first tangible result in the US for the much-hyped start-up founded by now 39-year-old Trevor Milton, who had to step down in September 2020, as he and his company got caught in a storm accused of fraud and misleading investors. Last year was rather one of losing one ‘mega deal’ after another.

TTSI operates a fleet of about 2 000 trucks in the Port of Los Angeles, with major retailers such as Amazon and Target as clients. It wants to add 30 more battery-electric trucks next year, followed by 70 fuel cell trucks later in 2023.

California: zero-emission trucks for all ports

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed in September 2020 an executive order that all heavy-duty trucks transporting containers to and from California ports must be 100% zero-emission by 2035. In the Port of LA alone, 12 000 freight trucks are operating today.

The BEV Nikola Tre features a 480 kW (645 hp) motor and 753 kWh battery capacity, providing it with a range of 350 miles (563 km). The FCEV is projected to have a 500-mile range (804 km).

Built in Ulm with Iveco

The Nikola Tre, initially meant for Europe, is based on Iveco’s S-WAY platform and is jointly produced with Nikola in Ulm, Germany. The site in Ulm is Iveco’s chassis engineering hub that is to become ‘a leading hub for fuel-cell technology’ of the group. Nikola delivers the electric drivetrain for the truck.

According to a previous press release, the initial Nikola Tre for the US customers is produced in Germany. Nikola’s production plant in Coolidge, Arizona, is still under construction. Yet it started the first pre-series production of Nikola Tre BEVs, to be ramped up to 2 400 trucks a year in 2022, and 20 000 in 2023.

Fuel cells from Bosch or GM

The hydrogen version of the Tre will follow in 2023, using for Europe the S3 fuel cell stacks developed by Bosch with Swedish PowerCell. Bosch used to have a 6,4 percent share in Nikola but reduced it to 4,9% later when the media storm took share prices down.

Eventually, General Motors would work with Nikola supplying its Hydrolec fuel cell systems and eventually its Ultium battery systems for the BEV trucks in the US. But since the intended mega-deal with GM smashed to smithereens, it remains relatively silent except for a new letter of intent for delivering fuel cells, which is still under review.

Mega-deal canceled

In December last year, General Motors announced its withdrawal from the mega-deal with 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 and refund people who preordered it.

In that deal, General Motors was to get an 11% ($2 billion) equity stake in newly issued common stock from Nikola in exchange for specific in-kind contributions. Those would have started with the engineering, homologating, validating, and manufacturing of the Nikola Badger pickup.

Ultium batteries

And this would come both as a battery-electric (BEV) and fuel cell (FCEV) version. The final version of the Nikola Badger was initially to make its public debut between December 3 and 5, at the Nikola World 2020 event in Arizona, where the company is based, but never materialized.

The deal with GM also would extend to Nikola’s Class 7/8 heavy-duty semi-trucks, with GM supplying its Hydrotec fuel cell technology and Ultium batteries for the Nikola One, Nikola Two, and Nikola Tre (outside of Europe), and the electric off-roader NZT. The trucks’ battery-electric versions should become available in 500 kWh, 750 kWh, and 1 000 kWh configurations.

25 BEV Tre trucks for Hamburg

Later that month, Nikola started to further slide down the slope after announcing that a mega-deal for 2 500 battery-electric garbage trucks was abandoned. Nikola would develop refuse trucks based on the electric Tre for Republic Services, one of America’s biggest waste collection companies, with an option of up to 5 000 units later.

There was some good news for Nikola in Europe, though, as it could announce in September of this year a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Hamburg Port Authority in Germany to deliver 25 BEV Tre trucks in 2022.

Energy / Legislation / Mobility / Opinion / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

New Dutch government goes for road pricing… in 2030

Tony Verhelle Posted On December 16, 2021

After nine months of formation and debate, the new to form Dutch government (still to be accepted in the Parliament) has presented its major guidelines. One of them is the introduction of a kind of road pricing, taxing the use of the car, not its possession. The system is to be fully operational in… 2030.

According to the (new to form) cabinet, the new system aims at bringing down CO2 emissions of traffic or transport in general. However, it doesn’t mean automatically that only the polluter pays. Electric car drivers will have to pay for road use as well.

By 2030

The new government will start implementing the new system during the coming legislative period by making car taxes dependant on the annual amount of kilometers driven. By 2030, the plan will be fully operational and replace the current and complicated tax system.

The government aims at keeping the new system as simple as possible. Car taxing in 2030 will depend entirely on the number of kilometers one has driven during the year. The system will also count for electric cars, as the government has emitted the aim that all new cars in the Netherlands should be electric by 2030.

The taxes won’t be linked to the time and the place when and where the kilometers are driven to keep things simple and affordable (for the state). Existing toll roads (especially tunnels) will become free of charge once the system is implemented.

Positive first reactions

The Dutch sector organization, BOVAG, and mobility club, ANWB, both react positively to the plan. “It’s good and also necessary,” says Bovag-president Han ten Broeke. “The current taxation system for cars is untenable, unfair, and a serious hindrance for the greening of car use.”

Bovag is already pleading a long time for a tax system where the use of the car is taxed. Of course, the new taxing has to replace the current taxing on possession and not be added to it. Bovag pleads for a tariff per kilometer based on the environmental qualities of the vehicle.

For mobility club ANWB, the fairness of the system is paramount. “The new system can’t make car driving more expensive than now,” declares ANWB. “It has to be simple and reliable and has to take into account what the car user cares for and expects.” According to ANWB, most of its members support the idea.

Good for CO2, what about congestion?

The advantage of the system is that it is simple and not very costly concerning infrastructure. The major drawback is that this type of road pricing has less influence on road use at peak moments. If the time and the place where the mileage is done are not considered, the impact on traffic flows is far less critical.

It’s clear that accompanying measures regarding traffic flow will have to be taken. By not considering when and where the car is used, the legislator omits what is regarded as a powerful tool in fighting traffic congestion.

Climate / Energy / Environment / Europe / Hydrogen / Legislation / Mobility / Public transport / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

EU plan: faster trains, EV chargers, and H2-stations along TEN-T network

Joris Van Roy Posted On December 15, 2021

The EU Commission has presented a four-pillar Action Plan for a cleaner, greener, and smarter mobility on the cross-border transport network through Europe and its nine major corridors. That means shifting more passengers and freight to rail and inland waterways, the roll-out of charging points every 60 km along highways, hydrogen filling stations at 150 km intervals, and making one-click cross-border ticketing possible, among others.

It won’t come for free, as an estimated 247 billion euros extra will be needed by 2050. But, according to EU Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean, on the other hand, the EU’s Gross Domestic Product should grow by €467 billion, creating 840 000 jobs during that period.

Easy-to-find tickets

“Today’s proposals set European mobility on track for a sustainable future: faster European rail connections with easy-to-find tickets and improved passenger rights support for cities to increase and improve public transport and infrastructure for walking and cycling, and making the best possible use of solutions for smart and efficient driving,” says Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the Commission responsible for the Green Deal.

The proposal mainly concentrates on the so-called TEN-T network. The latter is an EU-wide network of rail, inland waterways, short-sea shipping routes, and main roads. It connects 424 major cities with ports, airports, and railway terminals. To give an idea in figures: the core rail network is 64 572 km out of a total of 119 078 km, the core road network 47 318 km out of 108 597 km, and inland waterways account for 15 451 km.

Cutting traveling times

“When the TEN-T is complete, the EU Commission says, it will cut travel times between these cities. For example, passengers will be able to travel between Copenhagen and Hamburg in 2,5 hours by train, instead of the 4,5 hours required today.”

Passenger trains along the TEN-T network will have to achieve speeds of 160 km/hour while crossing national borders without the need to change train drivers, as is the case today. It also includes new high-speed train connections between the port city of Vigo in Spain and Porto (Portugal) and between Budapest (Hungary) and Bucharest (Romania) before 2040.

Only 7% of train trips cross borders

International traveling by train should be made far more convenient. Only 7% of rail kilometers traveled between 2001 and 2018 involved cross-border trips, the Commission says. The EU wants to prepare a legislative proposal in 2022 to boost user-friendly multimodal ticketing so that people can buy a combined ticket for different linked transport modes in one go. And that without paying VAT on train tickets EU-wide.

Much work is needed to remove national boundaries on connected rail networks, like scrapping redundant national technical and operational rules and guidelines for track access pricing in 2023. That should ease rail operators’ access to infrastructure, increase competition, and allow more attractive ticket prices for passengers.

Freight trains transporting heavy trucks

Freight trains should be able to achieve 100 km/hour on average and grow longer to transport more goods. Putting heavy semi-trucks on trains to relieve traffic pressure on highways is one of the other goals.

Another pillar is a stronger focus on sustainable urban mobility. That requires all 424 major cities along the TEN-T network to develop Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans to promote zero-emission mobility and increase and improve public transport and infrastructure for walking and cycling.

Next year, the EU Commission will publish its recommendation of prioritizing zero-emission solutions for urban fleets. That includes taxis and ride-hailing services, the last mile of urban deliveries, and the construction and modernization of multimodal hubs as new digital solutions and services.

Energy / Environment / Hydrogen / Maritime / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport

Container barge FPS Maas to start sailing on hydrogen

Joris Van Roy Posted On December 8, 2021

The inland container barge FPS Maas is the first of the fleet to start sailing between Rotterdam and Antwerp on hydrogen-powered fuel cells. Dutch shipping company Future Proof Sailing just signed a long-term agreement with AirLiquide to supply green hydrogen in specially designed multi-modal hydrogen storage containers on deck.

As a zero-emission vessel owner, FPS aims to build and operate a fleet of ten zero-emission inland and short-sea vessels over the next five years, offering charter to logistics service providers and cargo owners. A converted barge like FPS Maas is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2 000 CO2 tons annually.

Swappable hydrogen containers

The 110-meter-long FPS Maas is the first of currently three FPS-owned inland container barges that are being converted to pure electric propulsion with a PEM fuel cell system, battery, and ample hydrogen onboard storage in two swappable 40-foot containers with each 500 kg of hydrogen at 300 bar.

The classic diesel engine and gearbox are replaced by electric motors powered by fuel cells. The fuel cell system, delivered by Koedood Marine Group, will be triple redundant with an 825 kW (3 x 275 kW) capacity to supply propulsion and auxiliary power.

A total of 504 kWh lithium-ion battery capacity is used as a backup for peak shaving, secondary and bridging power. A 300 kWh pack is situated at the bow to power the bow thruster. The barge is retrofitted at the Holland Shipyards Group’s yard in Hardinxveld and is expected to start sailing in December or the beginning of next year.

Easily transferable solution

According to FPS, the solution can be easily replicated to other ships, trains, and other applications. As part of their business, FPS also facilitates other shipowners who are ready to make the shift to zero emissions through technical support as well as project development and management.

In October, the green shipping company acquired two more container vessels, the FPS Rijn and FPS Waal, which will be converted to hydrogen and will start sailing on the Rivers Rhine and Waal from 2023 on.

Air Liquide and FPS also partner in the RH2INE Program (Rhine Hydrogen Integration Network of Excellence), which aims to decarbonize inland shipping on the Rhine river and is endorsed by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management.

Sailing on battery power only

Another solution seen in the Netherlands for inland shipping is to use pure battery power delivered from swappable containers on the deck of converted barges with electro-propulsion.

A young Dutch company called ‘Zero Emissions Services’ (ZES) offers a service of swappable battery containers for fully electric inland barges. Those containers can be swapped at the destination for a charged one instantly or be charged by a one-megawatt supercharger in about 2,5 hours. Heineken was the first client to sign a 10-year contract.

In August of this year, Dutch brewer Heineken started shipping 2,5 million export beer bottles at once packed in containers on the fully electric inland barge Alphenaar. Two ZESPack containers onboard are stuffed with batteries, delivering two megawatt-hours each.

Energy / Industry / Legislation / Mobility / Top Stories Today / Transport

Car sector worried about electricity supplies

Tony Verhelle Posted On December 2, 2021

The European car manufacturers association ACEA has issued a warning about the charging infrastructure and hydrogen distribution in Europe in the future. In addition, Belgian car sector representative Mobia worries about the amount of electricity needed.

ACEA is worried about AFIR (Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation), the key piece of legislation proposed by the EU Commission to ensure sufficient deployment of public infrastructure.

Not ambitious enough

According to ACEA, the AFIR targets are far from ambitious enough, especially when there are signals that some member states want to dilute the ambition even more instead of increasing it.

Attempts by the Slovenes (at the moment presiding the EU) to reach a compromise spoke about delaying the timeline for deployment, lowering the power output of future charging stations, and increasing the allowed maximum distance between infrastructure.

“The European manufacturers are seriously concerned about the overall lack of ambition of the Commission’s AFIR proposal in the first place. If some member states get their way, that will make the expected CO2 reductions that go with it even less realistic,” notes ACEA.

“The EU auto industry is ready to build all those electric and hydrogen cars, but as part of AFIR, some 7 million public charging points will need to be deployed to reach the car CO2 targets that are foreseen by the Commission, instead of the 3,9 million in the current proposal,” says Petr Dolejsi, Mobility & Sustainable Transport Director at ACEA.

Strange allies

In their aim to obtain a better energy supplying infrastructure, ACEA is teaming up with some unexpected allies. For example, while ACEA and the NGO Transport & Environment weren’t always aligned in the past, there has been an increasing level of agreement and cooperation between them lately. Especially when it comes to advocating the need for sufficiently large infrastructure.

Julia Poliscanova, Senior Director Vehicles & E-Mobility at T&E, also underlines that “it is great that AFIR is a Regulation now. This must absolutely be kept to ensure fast and effective implementation.”

ACEA recently also joined forces with T&E to bring the importance of revising the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) to the attention of the European Commission.

“Because in addition to strong AFIR targets for public infrastructure, Europe will also need an ambitious EPBD to ensure that sufficient private and semi-public charging points are delivered at home and work,” notes ACEA.

Heavy-duty vehicles

ACEA also focuses on the needs of heavy-duty vehicles requiring very different infrastructure to cars and vans. Thomas Fabian, Commercial Vehicles Director at ACEA: “Already by 2025, at least 40 000 battery-electric trucks will have to be in operation in Europe, and by 2030 we will see well above 300 000 zero-emission trucks on our roads – both battery-electric trucks and fuel-cell ones.”

“Member states need to step up their AFIR ambition to ensure that the right infrastructure is available on time, so we really need dedicated and ambitious targets for HDV infrastructure,” he stresses. Part of this has to be “an EU-wide refueling network for low- and zero-carbon fuels to make sure we can also further reduce CO2 emissions from the existing fleet of vehicles.”

Continuous pressure

“This means that we must continue to drive the message home to national governments, MEPs, and policymakers that they need to understand that the ambition level of either piece of legislation requires to be fully synchronized with the other one,” remarks Eric-Mark Huitema, ACEA’s Director-General.

“The fact that different Committees are treating AFIR and the CO2 Regulation for cars and vans in the European Parliament is, for example, one of those factors indicating that we might risk ending up with a climate package that is out of sync.”

“Hence, it is important that in the months to come we keep reminding the Council, Parliament, and Commission that, instead of focusing on reaching compromises in isolation, they have to verify at every stage of the process that the different pieces of the complex Fit for 55 puzzle remain fully aligned,” Huitema concludes.

Mobia wants a guaranteed supply

The umbrella federation, regrouping Febiac (manufacturers), Traxio (dealers), and Renta (leaders) in Belgium, is sounding the alarm bell on the guaranteed supply of electricity now that the federal government is still arguing about stepping out of nuclear power or not.

“Our research team has calculated that when all cars, vans, and trucks in the country ride on electricity, the annual demand for it will increase by 37 TWh. That’s 50% more than the actual demand,” Mobia is clarifying.

“The three sector federations ask federal and regional authorities to join forces and develop a long-term strategy to provide citizens and companies with sustainable and affordable electric power,” says the press release.

And the current Mobia President, Stefan DeLaet, concludes: “The fiscal changes for company cars as of 2026, the Flemish decision to prohibit sales of non-zero-emission cars as of 2029, and the Brussels intention to ban ICE cars from 2030 will induce a strong electrification in the coming years.”

“The sector expects already 2,5 million electrified cars in 2030 on Belgian roads and 4 million in 2035. Expect an additional half-million electric vehicles like vans, trucks, and buses by the same time. Smart choices and serious investment programs are absolutely necessary if we want to see a real ‘greening’ of our mobility.”

Energy / Product / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

ICCT: Electric trucks can achieve TCO parity with diesels in this decade

Tony Verhelle Posted On November 30, 2021

An ICCT study (International Council on Clean Transportation) on the total cost of ownership (TCO) of long-distance tractor-trailers in seven EU countries shows that battery-electric trucks (BET) can achieve TCO parity with diesel tractor-trailers during this decade.

The research covered seven European countries, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, which accounted for more than 75% of truck sales in the European Union in 2019.

The analysis considered retail vehicle price, financing and residual value, registration and ownership taxes, electricity and diesel costs, maintenance costs, road tolls, battery replacement, and charging infrastructure costs from a first-user perspective over a 5-year analysis period.

TCO parity

From a first-user perspective, the analysis finds that BETs can achieve TCO parity with diesel tractor-trailers during this decade for all the considered countries without any additional policy support.

However, there are substantial differences across countries, mainly driven by the disparities in electricity and diesel prices, road tolls, and the currently implemented policy measures.

Specifically, BETs operating in Germany, France, and the Netherlands can reach immediate TCO parity with diesel tractor-trailers in 2021–2022. In contrast, other countries witness delays in parity time until the middle of the decade.

Regulations can help

According to the study, regulatory support can eliminate the current TCO gap between BETs and diesel tractor-trailers. These include purchase premiums, road tolls exemptions, and carbon pricing.

While some of these policies have already been adopted in the countries studied, others are active policy developments that have not yet been adopted.

“To close the cost gap and accelerate the deployment of BETs in Europe, policymakers should implement the Eurovignette Directive into national law as expeditiously as possible,” says the study.

“In addition, extending the European Emissions Trading Systems to include transport and instituting tax discounts for renewable electricity would also accelerate the cost of ownership parity,” the study adds.

Short case-study: the Netherlands

Let’s look a little bit more in detail into the results for the Netherlands. First, the study shows that TCO-parity will be achieved as soon as the purchase premiums (already announced for 2022) become effective.

The governmental measures include a purchase premium (up to 40% of the difference in purchasing price between a BET and a diesel truck. Without the incentives, TCO-parity is already achieved in 2024 because of the low prices for electricity and the high cost of diesel in the Netherlands.

Other measures that can accelerate the price difference between the two in favor of BETs are lower road tolls, other fiscal incentives, and investments in infrastructure.

To conclude, the study also has some recommendations. First, as already mentioned, the Eurovignette Directive (CO2-tax of 0,08-0,16 €/km) can effectively compensate for the external (emission) effects of diesel trucks.

Apart from that, the ‘Fit for 55’ EU-plan proposes to include buildings and transport into the ETS (Emission Trade System). Currently, only Germany already has such a system for transport: € 25/ton CO2-equivalent in 2021, climbing to € 55/ton CO2e in 2025).

The implementation of such a system in the Netherlands, for example, would bring TCO-parity one year closer. It would be more effective in the long term because the study also specifies that purchase premiums may be very effective, but they are also very expensive. Subsidies in this bracket have to be well defined and should extinct after time.

Conclusion

Overall, the ICCT study indicates that parity in total cost is also much nearer in the transport sector than previously thought. However, the speed with which this parity is achieved during the coming decade is still largely dependent on the authorities taking supportive but temporary measures.

Climate / Environment / Hydrogen / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport

Daimler Truck and TotalEnergies to kick start hydrogen rollout

Joris Van Roy Posted On November 10, 2021

Daimler Truck and French oil giant TotalEnergies have signed an agreement to jointly kick start the rollout of hydrogen infrastructure and heavy-duty trucks in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, and France.

Daimler wants its hydrogen trucks deployed fully on the road at customers by 2025, and TotalEnergies has the ambition by 2030 to operate directly or indirectly up to 150 hydrogen refueling stations in these countries.

For TotalEnergies, creating a European network of H2 truck stations for mobility is one of the key challenges it intends to tackle. The French oil giant Total changed its name in February to reflect its transition from fossil fuels to more sustainable energy sources after a history of denying climate change.

Pan-European H2 ecosystem

“Regarding the long-haul freight segment, we are convinced that CO2-neutral transportation will be enabled in the future by hydrogen-powered fuel cell trucks as well as purely battery-powered trucks,” says Karin Rådström, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Trucks. “To make this possible, we want to establish a pan-European hydrogen ecosystem together with strong partners such as TotalEnergies.”

Beginning of October, the shareholders of Daimler AG consented to a historic splitting up of the Group. The truck division will be entirely separated from the other part and go IPO before the end of the year as Daimler Truck. The remaining part of Daimler AG becomes Mercedes-Benz.

Fuel cells with Volvo

Daimler Truck and its Swedish competitor Volvo Group signed in November 2020 a binding agreement on the joint-venture in developing and producing hydrogen-driven fuel cells for heavy-duty vehicles.

Two months earlier, in September 2020, Daimler Trucks unveiled in Berlin its concept for the next-generation heavy long-haul truck powered by hydrogen: the Mercedes-Benz GenH2. Armed with two 40 kg tanks with minus 253° C cooled liquid hydrogen and two fuel cells, the 40-ton truck will have a range of 1 000 km.

Since April, the Mercedes-Benz GenH2 has been doing ‘rigorous’ test laps on the circuit, prepping for road tests by the end of this year. It’s to arrive at the first test clients in 2023.

Becoming a sustainable energy supplier

TotalEnergies is an expert in liquified gas today, actually selling more of it than oil, and wants to venture into hydrogen further in the near future. “Hydrogen will have its role in TotalEnergies’ journey to decarbonize mobility, especially in European long-haul transportation,” says Alexis Vovk, President Marketing & Services of TotalEnergies.

By taking over several smaller suppliers like Dutch clean energy provider PitPoint, the French oil company is actively rolling out a network of electric chargers, including in Brussels and Antwerp in Belgium.

150 000 EV chargers by 2025

In Antwerp, TotalEnergies won the city’s tender for extending the public charging network by installing 3 000 charging points by the end of 2023. They will be fed by ‘green’ energy from Belgian offshore wind parks.

TotalEnergies has the ambition to roll out 150 000 EV charge points by 2025 over Europe, focusing today on its major cities like Amsterdam (22 000), Paris (2 300), London (1 700), Antwerp, and Brussels.

150 fast-chargers along French highways

Just two weeks ago, it announced an investment of €200 million to equip its highway gas stations with DC fast-charging points. At the same time, the company fully profits from the high oil and gas prices.

The fast-charger plan includes more than 150 highway service stations in France to become EV-ready by the end of 2022. It plans the installation of 50 kW and 175 kW charging stations at 60 of the 150 locations by the end of this year.

Climate / Industry / Legislation / Public transport / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

All new cars electric in Flanders? It will be in 2029 (Update)

Tony Verhelle Posted On November 8, 2021

Thursday night, the Flemish government has finally reached an agreement on its updated climate plan. The general aim is to reduce CO2 emissions by 40% in 2030. The major contribution of the car sector will be the obligation to go electric for 2029 in new car sales. As an update, we added some more reactions.

The most critical compromise agreed between the different governmental parties is the delay until 2029 of the obligation to buy electric for new cars. The same obligation for second-hand cars (foreseen for 2030) is abandoned.

Concerning public transport, the bus fleet has to become greener. On the transport side, the road pricing will be steered so that greener transport will be more financially attractive. There are plans to enlarge this to the critical sector of (delivery) vans.

Important restrictions

The plan to forbid the sales of ICE vehicles (cars and vans) as of 2029 is subject to three binding conditions. The offer of BEVs has to be sufficient, the charging infrastructure must be adequate to cope with demand, and, last but not least, electric cars have to be cheaper than ICE equivalents.

For the last condition, it is essential to know if this comparison concerns the total cost of ownership (TCO) or simply the list price. According to the biggest coalition partner N-VA, it’s the latter.

Realistically ambitious

According to the Flemish government, the climate plan is ‘realistically ambitious’. Flanders heightened its target to 40% less CO2 emissions compared to the 2005 level and is very proud to be the second in Europe to go for electric cars only as of 2029. The leader here is Norway, which decided that all new cars must be electric from 2025 onward.

“It doesn’t make sense to show ambitions you can’t realize,” says Jan Jambon, Flanders’ Minister-President. “The measures taken have to be reachable and stay affordable.”

Critical considerations

With the ambition of 40% CO2 reduction, of which 35% still have to be realized in the coming nine years, Flanders is still a far cry away from the European ‘Fit for 55’ target. In that plan the CO2 reduction for Belgium is pinpointed at 47%. This means that Wallonia and Brussels have to do better than Flanders to compensate for the difference.

The Flemish association of employers VOKA is disappointed by the absence of a road pricing system in the new plan. “The other measures aim in the right direction but we see the absence of any sort of road pricing as a missed chance,” says CEO Hans Maertens.

VOKA points at the fact that a smart system of road pricing not only reduces CO2 emissions but also remediates traffic congestion. “How many studies about the necessity of such a system will still be needed,” is their outcry.

It’s worth noticing that VOKA and the biggest Flemish political party N-VA are completely opposite to each other in this matter while, usually, they are very close in their views on societal matters.

The association of small employers Unizo is partly happy with the plan but doesn’t understand why the target of 40% is put forward while the whole country has to go for 47% according to the EU.

“Unless Wallonia and Brussels (or the federal government) go further, Belgium will end up with additional measures and fines,” fears Danny Van Asche, the CEO at Unizo. The CEO has also its doubts about the timing of the out roll of charging infrastructure. “I hope this plan is the incentive to effectively install those 100 000 public charging points needed,” he adds.

The national federation of employers (VBO) is happy that there is a plan but regrets the lack of uniformity between the climate plans of the different regions. “Climate and pollution don’t stop at regional borders,” says VBO spokesman Benoit Monteyne. “If we want to realize the 47% reduction, thorough coordination is needed.”

Too little, too slow, too one-sided

The opposition in the Flemish Parliament isn’t particularly happy with the climate plan. According to the green party Groen, the Flemish government is pushing all the difficult choices toward the citizens instead of taking the necessary decisions themselves.

“The measures proposed will be at the expense of the modal Flemish citizen,” says MP Björn Rzoska. “Agriculture and industry remain largely unaffected.” That’s also the opinion of left-wing parties like Vooruit and PVDA.

Fundamental criticism

A lot of analysts and experts criticize the latest political decisions within the EU as being too single-sighted. Instead of forcing one sort of energy source (electricity), authorities should set the most stringent emission restrictions but shouldn’t interfere in the way to realize them.

Federal Minister of Energy Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen) says to be frustrated beyond measure about the Flemish plan. Her criticism concerns the lack of ambition as well as the defective deployment of the plan. “A government can’t put the cost and the realization of its plans entirely on the shoulders of its citizens,” she remarks.

The Flemish Network against Poverty says that the Flemish plan is a step forward but also a missed chance. “Where mobility is concerned, the plan is completely inadequate,” says coordinator Heidi Degerickx. “Poor people are simply neglected and abandoned. Transport poverty is a big problem for people wit low income. They count on public transport to get out of their social isolation, they can”t buy a car, surely not an electric one. For public transport there is underinvestment.”

Belgium not really ‘EV ready’

Further so, it may be a little too ambitious for Flanders to claim the second position in adapting to electric driving. A recent survey of Zutobi, the American Drivers’ education organization, shows that in the ‘EV ready index’ of European countries well prepared to embrace electric mobility, Belgium scores 29th place out of 32 countries.

In the top three, we find the usual suspects: Norway is number one, followed by the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. The three countries that are doing even worse than Belgium are the Czech Republic, Italy, and… Germany.

The criteria taken into account for the index are the cost to fully load a Tesla Model 3, the number of people searching for information about EVs, the percentage of vehicles already being electric, and the number of public charging stations.

Product / Top Stories Today / Transport

Renault’s new Kangoo E-Tech stretches range to 300 km

Joris Van Roy Posted On November 3, 2021

On 16 November, Renault will present to the public the new fully electric version of its popular compact van, baptized ‘Kangoo Van E-TECH Electric’. An upgraded battery of actual usable 45 kWh extends its range to 300 km (WLTP). That’s roughly 100 km more than the current Kangoo Z.E. with a 33 kWh battery.

Since its introduction in 2011, Renault sold close to 70 000 Kangoo Z.E.s, and it claims today this van makes out one-fifth of all-electric utility vans sold in Europe. The new one will roll out the Maubeuge factory in France like the old one did the last 25 years, together with its new Mercedes e-Citan and Nissan Townstar Electric siblings. Renault invested 450 million euros in ‘electrifying’ that plant and adding a battery assembly unit.

Première at Solutrans Lyon

The public première of the Kangoo Van E-Tech Electric is reserved for the Solutrans show in Lyon, running from 16 to 20 November. The latter is a biennial trade fair for haulage and urban transport professionals, bringing some 56 000 visitors to Lyon in 2019 before the corona crisis. It claims 900 exhibitors and companies were represented at this 15th edition.

The 16th edition looks so far it will physically happen in contrast to most motor shows in the last year and a half, with visitors required to show a Covid Safe Pass and wearing a face mask inside the venue.

Open Sesame by Renault

The Renault Kangoo E-Tech Electric gets a 90 kW (120 hp) powertrain with 245 Nm torque available from the start. It offers the same loading specs as its ICE brother, with a load volume of 3,9 m³ (4,9 m³ in the extended version that will be available later), a carrying capacity of 600 kg (800 kg long version), and a towing capacity of 1 500 kg.

It also features ‘Open Sesame by Renault’, which means a market-widest side sliding door of 1,45 m and three front seats with a foldable central back, converting into a table for a ‘driving office’.

There is an ECO modus to limit performances and to save energy. At the same time, regenerative braking can be set in three levels called Sailing (B1) for highways, Drive (B2) for city use, and Brake (B3) for traffic jams and driving down in the mountains.

80 kW D.C. fast-charging

For charging the 45 kWh battery, the Kangoo E-Tech Electric gets a standard three-phase 11 kW Caméléon-charger, suitable for charging from 15% to 100% in 3,5 hours. A 22 kW version of that charger for use at public chargers is an option, as is an 80 kW D.C. charger enabling to charge an extra 170 km (WLTP) in 30 minutes. Those optional chargers come with additional cooling.

In combination with the 22 kW charger, the van’s air conditioning gets a heat pump that regenerates outside air to warm up the interior when outside temperatures vary between -15°C and +15°C. Heated seats, heated steering wheel, and heated windshield are optional.

Bpost order

The new Renault Kangoo E-Tech Electric and its Mercedes and Nissan siblings will be commercialized in Spring 2022 or the second half of next year.

One of the first in Belgium to welcome them will be bpost, which announced in October it has ordered 400 new electric vans and launched a tender for 800 more to be delivered before the end of 2022. Bpost spread out the initial order over Renault Kangoo ZE, Opel E Vivaro, and Maxus to speed up deliveries.

Product / Top Stories Today / Transport

Fiat presents new e-van and e-MPV with familiar names

Joris Van Roy Posted On October 29, 2021

Stellantis has presented a new generation of Fiat vans and a ‘reborn’ Multi-Purpose Van (MPV), a people carrier with familiar names: Scudo and Ulysses. They’ll come with a classic ICE (diesel) powertrain, but also as a fully electric (BEV) alternative.

Both vans will be built on Stellantis’ EMP2 platform that it already uses for the Peugeot Expert and Traveller, Citroën Jumpy and Spacetourer, and Opel/Vauxhall’s Vivaro and Vivaro Life. The Scudo and Ulysses are about to go into production at the Stellantis Hordain plant in northern France, where their predecessors with the same name were built.

That ‘Sevel North’ factory opened in 1992 as a result of the joint venture Fiat, and then PSA Group set up in 1978, the so-called ‘Société Européenne de Véhicules Légers’ (SEVEL) or European Light Vehicle Company. Sevel South in Italy began manufacturing in 1981. Sevel North in France in 1992. In 2012, Fiat sold its share in the factory to PSA, coming back through the Stellantis merger.

No detailed specs yet

Stellantis won’t give a lot of technical details of both new vans yet. Except that the Scudo will come in three configurations: Van, Combi, and Cab, and the Ulysses will be a people-carrier for six to nine people, aimed at large families, the recreational vehicles market, or chauffeured transportation.

But from the sister brands on the same platform, one can assume the specs for the electric versions will be the same. That means a 136 hp electromotor, driving the front wheels and choosing between a 50 kW or 75 kW battery pack, promising ranges from 230 to 330 km.

Bye, bye Renault

The original Fiat Ulysses was the Italian twin of the Citroën Evasion, Peugeot 806, and Lancia Zeta, later renamed in C8, 807, and Phedra, respectively; Fiat stuck to its first choice. The closed van version, the Scudo, surfaced already as a twin version of the Citroën Jumpy and Peugeot Expert built until 2016 and succeeded by the Fiat Talento.

The latter was nothing else than a rebadged Renault Traffic, which Opel also sold under the Vivaro series of vans. But, with Opel and later Fiat-Chrysler merging with Renault’s main competitor PSA, that cooperation was doomed to finish.

Mobility / Top Stories Today / Transport

Acute shortage of truck drivers in Flanders

Hilde Van Raemdonck Posted On October 18, 2021

This year, Flanders counted 4 821 vacancies for truck drivers during the first eight months of the year. The acute shortage of drivers is not so dramatic as in the United Kingdom, but Flemish transport companies are struggling with a lack of drivers year after year.

In 2019, the number of vacancies reached a record level (5 504). And this year, this record will probably be broken again. Figures from Minister of Employment Hilde Crevits (CD&V) show that shortage is most acute in the East of Flanders (2 316, or almost half of the 4 821 until today).

Female candidates

At the same time, the number of candidates for a truck driving course has been growing by 1 000 to 1 100 since 2017. However, women are hardly represented (6%).

“Time to act,” says Flemish MP Tom Ongena. “Female employees might be useful to reduce the number of vacancies,” he says. “They could be an important pool of potential candidates for bottleneck jobs.” Ongena wants to avoid the British scenario of empty store shelves and endless lines at gas stations.

Positive trend

Flemish Minister of Employment is less pessimistic about the actual situation in the transport sector. “More and more job applicants indicate they’re interested in the job of truck driver. “In July, 2 031 candidates said to aspire to the job. And almost 1 000 people took a course, which is more than in 2020. If this trend continues, we’ll have more course members this year than in the last five years.”

Febetra, the federation of Belgian transport and logistics service providers, earlier launched a call for action. “If we want the shop shelves to remain filled in the future, then extra drivers are urgently needed,” the organization said. The situation is similar in Germany, and Poland.

Climate / Energy / Environment / Top Stories Today / Transport

North Sea’s wind farm capacity will triple to 5,8 GW by 2030

Hilde Van Raemdonck Posted On October 18, 2021

The Princess Elisabeth zone, the second zone in the Belgian North Sea where wind farms will be installed, will be expanded. As a result, the capacity of offshore turbines will be almost tripled.

On top of that, there are plans for an artificial energy island in the North Sea. That is what the federal government has decided.

Today, the first zone, the eight existing wind farms at sea, produce 2,2 gigawatts (GW). The initial idea was to double this capacity. Still, thanks to new technology – wind turbines are becoming bigger, stronger, and more effective – the total production can almost triple to 5,8 GW by 2030.

That is almost as much as the seven nuclear power plants produce today (5,9 GW) and enough to provide all Belgian families with green electricity.

‘Offshore pioneer’

According to Minister of Energy Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen) and her colleague, Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open Vld), Minister of the North Sea, “technology has evolved while the cost is falling, so, we’re capable of doing more.” As a result, “Belgium will be an offshore pioneer worldwide,” the latter said.

The planned energy island in the North Sea will be a 5-hectare concrete construction in the center of the new wind turbine zone with connections to other countries, like the UK or Denmark, which has a surplus of green electricity.

The island will be the first artificial island in the North Sea. It should be ready by 2026 and become part of a network of connected wind farms spread over the North Sea.

Operational by 2027

One year later, in 2027, the new wind farm should also be operational, offering 25 to 30% of the energy demand. Today, the existing wind farm at sea provides 10% of Belgian’s electricity consumption.

Today, the existing wind turbines at sea have been heavily subsidized and supported, but the new wind farm should be realized without subsidies. On the contrary, part of the future benefits could flow back to the state.

Nimbies

More renewable energy makes Belgium less dependent on other countries, Minister Van der Straeten says. “With a higher inland energy production, we should have been better protected against the high energy prices today,” she concludes.

The only obstacle now is improving the inland energy distribution. Energy provider Elia is building several new high-voltage connections in West Flanders and Henegouwen, the two missing links in Belgium.

But power pylons are a blot on the landscape, and Elia is often confronted with so-called ‘nimbies’. Residents object to the hideous electricity infrastructure nearby, crying out: “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY).

Aviation / Industry / Top Stories Today / Transport

Last flight for Alitalia

Luc Joris Posted On October 15, 2021

Alitalia, the flagship of Italian air transport, will end its 74-year history. On Thursday, it made its last flight, crippled by long-standing financial problems.

Today, the new airline Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA) will take off with the help of the Italian government. But there is deliberately no talk of a relaunch. Instead, the new player will only take over part of the slots (landing rights, e.n.) and no staff from Alitalia.

The Alitalia brand is also being sold for the sum of 290 million euros, but a bidder has not yet emerged (ITA has declined to buy the logo, deeming the price too high). The company’s more than 10 000 employees face an uncertain future, having received no guarantee of priority in the hiring process.

52 aircraft

Alitalia has been in the red since 2002. Several attempts were made to make the company healthy again but without result. Finally, in 2017, Alitalia went bankrupt and was kept afloat by the Italian state, which granted a 900 million euros bridge loan – illegal according to Europe.

Even during the corona pandemic, Alitalia, with 11 billion euros in accumulated losses since the beginning of the century, had to rely on millions in aid not to collapse.

But now the curtain has finally fallen, and a new, slimmed-down airline will take its place: ITA. The airline, endowed with 1,35 billion euros by Mario Draghi’s government, will start with 52 aircraft and 2 800 employees, which could rise to 5 750 within a few years.

As of today, if flies to 44 destinations, by 2025, this could be 74. ITA is retaining 85% of its predecessor’s take-off and landing slots at Milan Linate airport and 43% at Rome Fiumicino.

The aircraft will be flying the national flag, but there will be no reference to the identity of the former airline. In the first images released by ITA, the planes will only bear the words “Born in 2021” in green, white, and red letters.

Low-cost airlines are the deathblow

Alitalia started on 5 May 1947 under the name Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali, its first flight on the Turin-Rome-Catania route. The first intercontinental flight came a year later, from Milan to Buenos Aires.

In 1975, the airline merged with Linee Aeree Italiane, and the name Alitalia was chosen, a combination of “wings” and “Italy”. By 1960, the airline carried 1 million passengers; by the 1990s, 25 million.

Partially privatized in 1996 by the Prodi government, the company never solved its competitiveness problem, which only became more acute in the early 2000s with the birth of low-cost airlines, which have been particularly aggressive in the Peninsula.

In 2005, its market share in Italian airspace was only 25%, whereas it had been 50% ten years earlier. In 2021, it is only 13%, far behind Ryanair.

Strategic mistakes

With hindsight, several major strategic mistakes were made when the Italian state tried to sell its 67% share to Air France-KLM between 2006-2008. Firstly, the company chose to concentrate on short and medium-haul flights – where low-cost airlines were making irresistible progress – to the detriment of the more profitable long-haul flights.

Secondly, it relied heavily on the Rome-Milan route, although it competed with high-speed trains that linked the center of the two metropolises in just over three hours.

Finally, it retained a two-headed organization with two hubs in Milan-Linate and Rome-Fiumicino for political rather than operational reasons. As a result, after the “best” year in its recent history in 2011 (only 69 million euros in losses), the company resumed its downward trajectory.

Dark omens

In any case, according to Le Monde, the public authorities fear that numerous protests will disrupt the first days of ITA’s existence. First, the unions have multiplied emergency appeals against the setting up of ITA, facilitated by the adoption of a “tailor-made” decree exempting it from the obligation to take over former Alitalia workers.

If they wanted to continue with ITA, employees would also have to accept pay cuts of more than 20% and up to 40% for the pilots. Therefore, the trade unions call the take-over of the equipment and the planes without the staff illegal and have announced demonstrations at Alitalia headquarters in Rome-Fiumicino airport.

Beyond that, it is the viability of the future company that looks pretty hypothetical. For the time being, ITA is expected to have seven long-haul aircraft, which is too few to be competitive. Therefore, it is conceivable that ITA could be bought out in the medium term, but the companies that might be candidates would have to reimburse the state aid received during the pandemic, which will not be easy.

Aviation / Legislation / Top Stories Today / Transport

Belgium’s short-haul flight tax bill causes confusion

Félix Bouland Posted On October 14, 2021

This Tuesday, the Belgian government suggested introducing a tax on short-haul flights less than 500 km from Brussels Airport. In its estimate, it should bring in 30 million euros by 2022, and 40 million in the next two years.

The opposition was quick to berate the suggested bill, pointing out obvious flaws. They include the non-existent fast train connections, injustice between Brussels and the other airport at Charleroi, and the ‘gulf’ between the tax and the estimated returns.

From 5 to 6 euros

“It’s a decision that this government has taken, the organization of the beginning of a shift. Where it’s possible to take the train instead of a plane, we will encourage people to take the train,” responded the Federal Mobility Minister, Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo), in the Chamber, while presenting the measure.

With a tax ranging from five to six euros per passenger flying on short-haul flights of less than 500 km, the Federal government hopes to raise 30 million euros by 2022 and 40 million euros in the next two years.

And this is precisely where the opposition began to find flaws. According to data, 900 000 passengers flew short-haul flights in 2019. Even by rounding up the passenger count to one million, the suggested tax won’t bring anything near the estimate.

If transit passengers would be exempted like in Amsterdam and Frankfurt in the neighboring countries, some 450 000 passengers would have to pay an extra tax of 66,67 euros per ticket to get to the target of €30 million, newspaper De Tijd writes.

Injustice?

As the tax currently fixates on ‘short haul’ flights, it only targets major airlines that are using the hub system. In other words, Ryanair and its point-to-point flight system won’t be affected as much. The Irish low-cost airline would come out as the big winner.

Furthermore, Brussels Airport is lacking many major international connections and relies on short-haul flights to Paris, Frankfurt, or London for international long-haul flights. The tax wouldn’t be a problem for transit passengers if the Belgian government had the decency to exempted them from it as other nations do.

Climate issue

What drives the Belgian government to push this tax? This is where it all goes blurry, Belgian media comment. Maybe its roots are to be found in an ecological mindset. Therefore, CO2 reduction is key.

But this bill only acts on passenger transport, and freight flights are being left alone. However, short-haul cargo flights are very common, and with older, heavier, and more polluting airplanes. Plus, freight rail lines are plenty.

A tax on short-haul flights isn’t, in essence, a bad idea. Other countries have them – France even pushed Air France to stop its flight where a train alternative existed. But such a tax should be backed by correct budgeting, and other options must already exist, opponents argue. “The government is putting the cart before the horse by hoping passengers will take the train while the rail connection sometimes doesn’t even exist.”

Climate / Mobility / Public transport / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

Belgian railways get an extra 250 million euros

Luc Joris Posted On October 14, 2021

At the budget conclave finalized on Tuesday morning, the Belgian government decided to invest an additional 250 million euros in NMBS/SNCB. This makes the Belgian railways one of the big winners in the De Croo government’s plan to invest an extra billion euros over the next three years.

“This climate government invests in sustainable mobility and fiscal and social justice,” says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo). “Season 2 of the Vivaldi government is a turning point for the future of our country and a clear commitment to the transition.”

A big push for freight transport

In addition to 365 million euros earmarked by 2021, the government will add 250 million euros to the Boost plan. These investments go to more trains and more accessible stations and contribute to doubling rail freight traffic and strengthening the Brussels-Luxembourg international line.

More specifically, 181 million will go to the development of freight transport, which should lead to companies relying less on trucks to transport goods. The objective is to increase volume by 50% by 2030 and make it double by 2050.

Forty-two million euros will go to improvements on the line between Brussels and Luxembourg. For example, a train journey between the two cities now takes 3 hours and 18 minutes, which is a long time for a 217 km trip (by car it is easily one hour faster if there are no traffic jams).

Twenty-seven million euros will go to making the stations more accessible. Moreover, there will be an additional push to develop the night train further. Gilkinet wants to turn Belgium into a hub for night trains. The federal government will release 2 million euros for that. The price for being able to travel on the tracks at night will be reduced for passenger transport.

Appeal to EU

“The government opts for more trains, fewer trucks, and less flying. I am happy about that”, says Gilkinet. Meanwhile, the minister pleads with the European Commission to relax the rules on state aid and the development of international trains and night trains.

“Europe has great ambitions in the Green Deal, and it must now translate those ambitions into concrete actions. That is why it is urgent to put an end to the unfair competition between international trains and planes, especially for very short distances,” says Gilkinet. To be clear: the package of measures decided on by the De Croo government also includes CO2 compensation for air travel in the form of a tax on short flights.

Less greenhouse gas

The support for the railways and the night train should help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As is well known, the government aims to reduce these emissions by 55% by 2030 to become climate-neutral by 2050. Mobility in Belgium is responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions.

Product / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

Hyvia unveils its first Renault Master on hydrogen

Joris Van Roy Posted On October 14, 2021

HYVIA, the joint venture between Renault and Plug Power, has unveiled its first prototypes of the Renault Master van on hydrogen. The latter, due for delivery in 2022, will have a range of approximately 500 km.

The Renault Master H2-Tech gets a 30 kW fuel cell, a 33 kWh battery, and four tanks of 1,5 kg hydrogen, for a total of six. Hyvia also delivers the fueling station to be purchased or leased for filling up the hydrogen van in five minutes.

Hydrogen perfect for LCVs

In June, the French Renault Group has finalized its intended 50/50 joint venture with American fuel cell developer Plug Power to capture a 30% share of the EU market of hydrogen-driven light commercial vehicles (LCVs).

The JV was baptized ‘HYVIA’ with the HY standing for hydrogen and VIA, the Latin word for the road. The partners believe “hydrogen mobility is particularly meaningful for Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV), perfect for extending autonomy for high loads and intensive use.”

Built in 350 versions

The Renault Master unveiled on Wednesday has 12 cubic meters of cargo volume and a range of up to 500 km. The van itself is produced at Renault’s Batilly plant. This assembly factory produces the Master in over 350 versions.

The fuel cells will be sourced by the end of the year from the Flins plant, the first Renault factory to become a site entirely dedicated to the circular economy and nicknamed Re-Factory. The hydrogen tanks get the stamp of specialized French supplier Faurecia.

Liquid versus gaseous

On Tuesday, the latter just announced a partnership with French Air Liquide to produce tanks for liquid hydrogen for heavy trucks. Liquid hydrogen (LH2) has a far better energy density than gaseous hydrogen, requiring less bulky tanks to store it and able to double a truck’s range.

The other side of the coin is it requires the hydrogen to be kept at -253°C, with a sophisticated cooling system. But this technique is already relatively common in storage for industrial purposes and hydrogen tank stations.

Green hydrogen produced on-site

Hyvia works with gaseous hydrogen for its vans that can be generated on-site with electrolysis – preferable with electricity from sustainable energy sources – or delivered by gaseous tube trailers. The Hyvia Hydrogen Refueling Station compresses the hydrogen at 700 bar, to be used by the vans.

Next on the planning is to develop a range of fuel cell-powered light commercial vehicles (Van, Chassis Cab, and Citybus), complementary to battery electric vehicles, the press release states. First to follow is the Master Chassis Cab H2-Tech, a larger van with 19m³ cargo space and a range of about 250 km. Next will be the Master Citybus H2-TECH, an urban minibus that can carry up to 15 passengers.

Mobility / Road safety / Top Stories Today / Transport

Antwerp Oosterweel knot and new Royers lock works to start

Hilde Van Raemdonck Posted On October 12, 2021

On Monday, the construction works of the Oosterweel knot in Antwerp, connecting the future Scheldt tunnel with the channel tunnels, have officially started. Also, the works to renovate and enlarge the Royers lock can start. Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), was invited on Monday to lay – or rather remove – the first symbolic stones.

“The Royers lock is more than a hundred years old and needs replacement,” Minister Peeters explained. “It has been out of service for a while. By making it longer and wider, it will be accessible for larger ships. It can be the entrance gate between the Scheldt and the Albert Channel and help us to get more transport off the road.” The new lock will be 230 m long (now it’s 180 m) and 36 m wide (now 22 m).

Preparation

On the Oosterweel project, works can start on the junction complex – the so-called Oosterweel knot – to give the southern part of the Antwerp harbor and the so-called ‘Eilandje’ direct access to the Ring. It will be the link between the tunnels under the River Scheldt and the Albert Channel, to be completed by 2030.

New drains and sewers will be installed in the coming months, and traffic in both directions will be diverted on one lane. During the first quarter of 2022, trees will be unrooted to install temporary roads. The preparation of the temporary Oosterweel road will start in the second quarter of 2022. Minister Peeters is pleased with the start of the works. “This is an important moment for our economy, inland shipping, mobility, and the region.”

Complex project

The Oosterweel project is intended to close the Antwerp Ring. Most parts of the new cross-river connection for regional, urban, and local traffic are situated underground. Entries and exits to and from the port of Antwerp are located near the North Castle, where the Ring comes up to the surface again.

Experts are still analyzing whether it should be covered. The new connection will decrease traffic to the Groenendaallaan and Schijnpoort drastically.

The Oosterweel project is highly complex, and in the past few years, its plans have gradually undergone a metamorphosis. “Today, we’re lowering the threshold between the harbor and the city. As a result, we’re working on better mobility and livability in one of the most important port towns in the world,” concludes David van Herreweghe, president of the board at Lantis, project manager.

Climate / Environment / Health / Industry / Mobility / Top Stories Today / Transport

Plan Bureau: ‘Greenhouse gas levels 2% higher than in 2014’

Hilde Van Raemdonck Posted On October 8, 2021

According to a new report by the Federal Plan Bureau (FPB), greenhouse gas emissions in Belgium were 2% higher in 2019 than in 2014. Carbon dioxide (CO2) represented 86% of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2019.

Greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 16% between 2008 and 2019. But, after a gradual decline until their lowest level in 2014, they started rising again from 2015 “to decline slightly afterward until 2019”, the report says.

Transport, energy, and industry

The explanation for the general decline, according to FPB, is the lower emission level of some industries and households. “The transport sector, the energy sector, and the industry contribute most to the decline because their emissions decreased significantly, by -26%, -24%, and -18%, respectively.

In 2019, CO2 emissions represented 86% of total greenhouse gas emissions. A decrease by 16% between 2008 and 2019. Other greenhouse gas emissions are methane (6%) and nitrous oxide (5%), and they decreased by 12 and 20% between 2008 and 2019.

Polluting elements

The industry emitted slightly more than one-third of total greenhouse gases, households about 20%, while the energy sector’s share decreased from 15 to 13%. The only two sectors with increasing emissions (between 2008 and 2019) are the primary sector ( from 2 to 11%) and the services sector (from 2 to 9%).

ArcelorMittal, the multinational steel manufacturing corporation, is an important polluter. The company exploits about 15 blast furnaces in Europe but recently announced to invest 1,1 billion euros in its production unit in Ghent to reduce CO2 emissions by 3,9 million tons, or about 4% of Flanders’ total CO2 emissions. End September, ArcelorMittal signed a declaration of intent for it.

Greenhouse gases absorb heat radiation, and high concentrations of polluting elements in the air lead to a higher temperature, concludes FPB.

Environment / Services / Top Stories Today / Transport

Bpost to order 1 200 extra electric vans

Joris Van Roy Posted On October 5, 2021

Belgian bpost has ordered 400 new electric vans and will launch a tender by the end of this month for 800 more to be delivered before the end of 2022. The financial newspaper De Tijd broke the news on Saturday. Spokeswoman Veerle Van Mierlo told the newspaper the order is spread over different brands (Renault Kangoo ZE, Opel E Vivaro, and Maxus) to speed up deliveries.

Bpost, still owned by the Belgian state for 51%, assumes it will operate some 18 000 vans by 2030 and these will have to be electric. Today, the bpost fleet counts 18 000 vehicles. Some 10 000 of them are vans to deliver post and packages. Today, the postal service has some hundred electric vans operational, apparently many Renault Kangoo ZE.

The order of 1 200 electric vans is huge, considering that, according to figures of car federation Febiac, only 656 e-vans were registered in Belgium in the first eight months of 2021. Bpost declines to comment on the value of the contracts.

Emission-free distribution

In July 2020, bpost, together with the city of Mechelen, launched a pilot project for the emission-free distribution of letters and parcels in the town. That turned out to be a success, and Leuven is to follow with a second ‘bpost eco-zone’.

In Mechelen, all diesel vans were replaced by electric vans or e-bikes with package trailers, and a micro hub was installed to centralize dispatching for the last mile delivery.

To encourage the user to get his parcel by foot or bicycle, bpost established a network of 57 parcel pick-up sites. Forty-nine of them are equipped with automatic parcel delivery machines so that customers are only 500 meters away from the delivery point. It would be of no ecological use if the user would use his car to get the parcel at the delivery point.

85% by foot or bicycle

In this project, 85% of citizens of Mechelen involved went by foot or bicycle to collect their package. In 75% of cases the car was used; this was combined with other replacements, like shopping, bringing the kids to school, or going to work.

Data from the KU Leuven MOBI research cell that monitored the project showed that  97% fewer CO₂ and 77% fewer fine particles were emitted. By using the bicycles where possible, 164 fewer km were driven each day by vans.

Mobility / Top Stories Today / Transport

5 000 extra truck drivers wanted to keep Belgian shop shelves filled

Luc Joris Posted On October 4, 2021

In England, Germany, Poland, and Belgium, there is an acute shortage of truck drivers. According to Febetra, the federation of Belgian transport and logistics service providers, there are currently 5 000 vacancies for truck drivers in Belgium. “If we want the shop shelves to remain filled in the future, then extra drivers are urgently needed,” Febetra says.

“Without truck drivers, the world will stop turning, and we don’t realize that enough,” says Isabelle De Maegt from Febetra. “Without truck drivers, the shelves in supermarkets and shops would remain empty, and construction sites would come to a standstill. Factories would stop turning.”

Truck Driver Day

Febetra also organizes Truck Driver Day on 9 December to fill in the thousands of vacancies in Belgium. That day, the federation wants everyone to roll out the red carpet for drivers. At various locations, drivers will receive a small gift, such as a cup of coffee, a snack, or a card.

Interested parties can find out more about the profession and vacancies at www.vrachtwagenchauffeur.be.

Rock stars

That truck driving is a profession with a future is evident in the United Kingdom, where truck drivers have become “real rock stars,” says Laurence Bolton, the headmaster of the National Driving Center school in a working-class London suburb.

In the United Kingdom, there are fuel shortages and empty shelves in supermarkets because they cannot be supplied. Brexit has prevented the return of the Eastern European drivers who plied the country a year ago.

100 000 truck drivers needed in the UK

According to the Road Transport Association (RHA), there is a shortage of 100 000 truck drivers in the UK. Some companies are offering to pay for training, and the government is stepping up measures to remedy the situation.

From Monday, for example, military personnel will start to be available for haulers to use, with more than 65 drivers available initially. This is happening mainly around London and in the southeast of England, where stocks are recovering more slowly than elsewhere, and one in five gas stations is still dry.

There are plans for 200 members of the army to be deployed in total, including 100 drivers. However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not rule out supply chain problems continuing until Christmas.

New measures

Drivers can now drive more extended hours, license holders no longer working in the industry got letters urging them to return, and, most importantly, the UK will grant 10 500 temporary work visas to deal with labor shortages before Christmas.

Some of the measures are received somewhat skeptically, such as the relaxation of rules that allow drivers to test directly to drive the heaviest vehicles, like a gigantic 40-tonner, without going through a smaller truck.

The trade union platform Unite also criticizes the government for not improving the quality of life at the parking and rest areas, where drivers often do not find showers or toilets despite higher prices than on the continent.

Wages don’t follow

And last but not least: the wages haven’t kept up with inflation and other industries. Before Brexit, primarily East European truck drivers accepted these wages, but few volunteers are currently jostling to cross the Channel again.

In a press release, the Unite trade union platform decried “the government’s support for a broken system that exploits” the driver. So it is as Alberto Almeida, a plumber with a new truck license in his pocket, summarizes: “If they would offer good working conditions, yes, I would go, but I’m not. The Brexit just highlighted the problem: no one wants to be on the road.”

Industry / Mobility / Top Stories Today / Transport

Britain puts army on standby to ease fuel crisis

Luc Joris Posted On September 28, 2021

Britain puts its army on standby to help with the ongoing fuel crisis. Gasoline and diesel stations have been short of gasoline because there are not enough truck drivers to supply them, and Brexit worsening the situation. The problems are aggravated by worried Britons rushing to gasoline stations hoarding up, leaving many running dry.

“A limited number of military tanker drivers are to be placed in a state of readiness and deployed as necessary to stabilize the fuel supply chain further,” the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced in a statement on Monday evening. According to the BBC, an initial 75 military drivers would be on standby, with up to 150 and the same number of support staff available if needed.

Out-of-stock situations

On Monday, some worried motorists waited for more than an hour at a gasoline station in the heart of London to get some fuel. At another gasoline station in east London, there was a queue of 50 cars early in the morning, with customers having spent part of the night waiting.

Across the country, ‘out of fuel’ or ‘out of order’ signs are popping up at gasoline pumps, with around 30% of BP’s stations affected by fuel shortages. Some British media outlets have published videos of drivers on edge near the pumps for fear of running out of fuel or not getting to work.

While medical organizations are sounding the alarm about the difficulties of carers traveling to see their patients, some schools consider switching back to distance learning if the problem persists. The problem also affects the shelves of supermarkets, fast food outlets, pubs, bicycle shops, which are experiencing delays in deliveries and out-of-stock situations on some products.

Plenty of fuel

According to the PRA, one of the fuel retailers’ associations, up to two-thirds of its members (5 500 independent sites out of a total of 8 000 stations in the country) were running out of fuel on Sunday, with “the rest almost dry”.

The association also said it expected “a possible easing of demand and a normalization of stocks in the coming days” because there is still “plenty of fuel in UK refineries”. But as said, companies like BP and ExxonMobil do not manage to get the fuel at the filling stations due to a shortage of drivers.

Post-Brexit consequences

The acute shortage of drivers, a problem going on for several months, is partly a result of the corona pandemic and strict or complicating immigration rules post-Brexit.

The lockdowns have prompted some European drivers – mainly Eastern Europeans – to return home, and then thousands of others have been unable to take their HGV licenses because test centers have been closed for months.

Panic buying

The government denies the impact of Brexit on the current crisis, saying European countries are also facing driver shortages, which is true for Germany and Poland. But, according to a report published last month, it is one of the main causes of the problem, says the UK’s road transport federation, which says there is a shortage of at least 100 000 truck drivers in the country.

The Conservative government in London also reiterated that there is no shortage of fuel. It is enough that everyone stops panic buying and does not fill up more than necessary. Anyway, the situation is reminiscent of gasoline rationing during the energy crisis of the 1970s or a blockade of refineries that paralyzed the country for weeks in the early 2000s.

Temporary work visas

In a bid to alleviate the driver shortage, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last weekend that he would issue thousands of temporary work visas to foreign truck drivers (more specific: 10 500 three-month work visas). With this, he made a drastic U-turn in the strict immigration policy after the Brexit.

The Ministry of Defense is also taking steps to provide examiners for truck driving tests. In this way, the government wants to increase the number of British truck drivers. The British Poultry Council welcomes the measures but hopes it will not be “too little too late”. BP warns that it will take “time for the industry to increase deliveries and rebuild stocks.”

Climate / Environment / Health / Mobility / Top Stories Today / Transport

WHO lowers air pollution limiting values to save millions of lives

Hilde Van Raemdonck Posted On September 23, 2021

According to the World Health Organization, the recommended limiting values for six polluting substances in the air have to come down. The new WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) are far more stringent than those of the EU and aim to save millions of lives from air pollution.

Several recent studies have indicated that air pollution is far more harmful to human health than assumed. Since WHO’s last global update, there has been a marked increase of evidence that air pollution affects different aspects of health.

Save millions of lives

WHO has, therefore, adjusted almost all the AQGs levels downwards, warning that exceeding the new guideline levels is associated with significant health risks. At the same time, however, adhering to them could save millions of lives. Among the polluting substances are nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide, and particles.

According to the WHO’s estimations, exposure to air pollution causes seven million premature deaths a year worldwide. Air pollution causes heart and vascular and pulmonary diseases. Together with climate change, air pollution is one of the most critical environmental threats to human health, the organization says.

New standard

That is why the WHO sharpens the directives for air quality – for the first time since 2005. The new directions should push authorities worldwide to tackle air pollution.

In the Netherlands, the Dutch Lung Fund (Longfonds) takes the recommendations seriously. “We thought that air pollution in the Netherlands was under control, but those new limiting values show how bad the current quality of the air is,” says Lung Fund Director Michael Rutgers. Therefore, according to Rutgers, the new values have to become the new standard for the Netherlands.

Today, the old standards are still valid, and although they’re more ambitious than the legal ones, they’re not met.

Clean Air Agreement

Last year, several provinces and municipalities in the Netherlands signed the Clean Air Agreement (Schone Lucht Akkoord, SLA). The target was to comply with the old WHO standards for nitrogen dioxide and particles by 2030. The Agreement also included a 50% benefit for health.

In the meantime, more and more municipal health services (Gemeentelijke GezondheidsDiensten, GGD) call for more healthy air. “Air pollution remains one of the most important health issues in the Netherlands,” they say.

Global Air Quality Guidelines

The Dutch Lung Fund emphasizes that clean air is of vital importance for anybody. The organization shows that one out of five cases of asthma in children in the Netherlands is related to air pollution. Therefore, the emissions of the so-called classical polluters, like nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), and particles (PM), have to go down, the WHO concludes.

The health risks associated with particulate matter equal to or smaller than 10 and 2.5 microns (µm) in diameter (PM₁₀ and PM₂_.₅, respectively) are of particular public health relevance. Both PM₂_.₅ and PM₁₀ are capable of penetrating deep into the lungs, but PM₂_.₅ can even enter the bloodstream, primarily resulting in cardiovascular and respiratory impacts and affecting other organs. PM is generated mainly by fuel combustion in different sectors, including transport, energy, households, industry, and agriculture.

Accumulated evidence

New World Health Organization (WHO) Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) provide clear evidence of air pollution’s damage to human health at even lower concentrations than previously understood. The guidelines recommend new air quality levels to protect the health of populations by reducing levels of key air pollutants, some of which also contribute to climate change.

Since WHO’s last 2005 global update, there has been a marked increase of evidence that shows how air pollution affects different aspects of health. For that reason, and after a systematic review of the accumulated evidence, the WHO has adjusted almost all the AQGs levels downwards, warning that exceeding the new air quality guideline levels is associated with significant health risks. At the same time, however, adhering to them could save millions of lives.

‘Evidence-based and practical tool’

Every year, exposure to air pollution is estimated to cause seven million premature deaths and result in the loss of millions more healthy years of life. In children, this could include reduced lung growth and function, respiratory infections, and aggravated asthma. All this puts the burden of disease attributable to air pollution on a par with other significant global health risks such as unhealthy diet and tobacco smoking.

“Air pollution is a threat to health in all countries, but it hits people in low- and middle-income countries the hardest,” said WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “WHO’s new Air Quality Guidelines are an evidence-based and practical tool for improving the quality of the air on which all life depends. I urge all countries and all those fighting to protect our environment from putting them to use to reduce suffering and save lives.”

The WHO estimates that millions of deaths are caused by the effects of air pollution, mainly from noncommunicable diseases. Therefore, clean air should be a fundamental human right and a necessary condition for healthy and productive societies.

Legislation / Mobility / Top Stories Today / Transport

Uber Belgium: ‘where’s the government’s Taxi Plan?’

Félix Bouland Posted On September 23, 2021

Still waiting on the Taxi Plan promised by the Brussels regional government for this summer, Uber makes its discontent known. In March, legislators dusted off a 1995 order banning chauffeurs from using their smartphones for their activity. Since then, Uber drivers have worked in legal uncertainty.

The American ride-hailing company calls for a harmonized status for taxis and chauffeurs after a probe where 80% of drivers agree. On the other hand, the Brussels taxi sector disagreed and wished for a distinction between the two jobs to be made.

“The Vervoort government went on holiday without keeping its promise to present a reform text, but we made progress on our side. This situation is not liveable. We’ve been waiting seven years for the Brussels government’s plan. It’s time for things to move forward”, declares Uber Belgium CEO, Laurent Slits, reported in La Libre Belgique.

Legal blur

Let’s go back a few months. In March, the Brussels Court of Appeal ruled on a case of taxi companies against Uber. As a result, a 1995 order was dusted off, noting that chauffeurs couldn’t use their smartphones to take clients. In fact, it’s a bit more complicated than that, as the law dates 26 years back talks about radio transmitters, the use of which is reserved for taxis.

Thus, de facto, Uber drivers find themselves in a legal uncertainty where they are still allowed to work but can’t use their smartphones to take clients in. To make matters worse, the crusade against those chauffeurs geared up as Bruxelles-Mobility confirms having increased the number of police checks.

Harmonized status

With no clear Taxi Plan from the Brussels government in sight, Uber is taking a step forward. Having probed its chauffeurs, the American company found that 80% of them agree to a harmonized status between chauffeurs and taxis, similar to the situation in Flanders.

Along with three drivers associations, Uber Belgium pleads for this level playing field, even if it means drivers having to switch from self-employed to employees and passing the required exams.

Then comes the issue of licenses: Uber asks for the clause limiting the number of taxi licenses for Brussels to 1 300 to be lifted. Finally, the ride-hailing company highlights the nonsense, which obliges chauffeurs to drive ‘luxury cars’, thus blocking the purchase of electric or hybrid cars.

Product / Road safety / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

EXia develops active blind spot warning system

Gert Verhoeven Posted On September 21, 2021

EXia, a spin-off of the Brussels University VUB, founded in 2013, has developed a sensor system for trucks that actively warns the truck driver of vulnerable road users in the blind spot zone around the vehicle.

Insurer Ethias supports this technology and hopes to reduce the number of blind spot accidents causing serious injuries or even fatal wounds to (mostly) bicycle users or other vulnerable road users.

How does it work?

The Active Sideguard system uses a new generation of electrostatic sensors that convert their signal into a virtual 3D image. In this way, the related software can accurately scan the blind-spot area around the truck for vulnerable road users.

The system is not only able to detect pedestrians and cyclists but also children and even wheelchair users. The sensors transmit their data to the unit in the truck that actively warns the driver in real-time of the imminent danger.

A pilot project is currently running with 90 trucks. From 2022 onward, a European directive will ensure that similar detection systems for weak road users will become mandatory. The advantage of the EXia system is that it warns – and does not necessarily intervene autonomously in the braking system – so that it is also possible as a retrofit application in existing trucks.

The insurer also believes in technology

Every year, 50 blind spot accidents involving vulnerable road users occur in Belgium, a quarter of which are fatal. Unfortunately, the actual number (across all road users) is much higher. EXia believes that by using Active Sideguard technology, the number of blind spot accidents could be reduced by almost a third.

Since 2018, the spin-off has started a collaboration with Ethias. As an insurer, it is interested in preventing such accidents and wants to take on its social responsibility via this route. In that context, the system was just presented to Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), Flemish Minister for Public Works and Mobility.

Training remains necessary

Peeters believes that technology is important to improve traffic safety. Still, she also continues to invest in making road infrastructure conflict-free. In addition, she believes that traffic education in schools remains crucial to make young cyclists familiar with the blind spot issue.

Technology is not a free ticket for truck drivers either, as they must regularly take the Code 95 refresher course, where their attention is drawn to the correct adjustment of mirrors.

The question remains whether sufficient drivers and transport companies will be reached at the Flemish level because there’s an ever-increasing number of foreign trucks and drivers in a transit country like Belgium.

Environment / Mobility / Product / Top Stories Today / Transport

Antwerp cargo bike project avoids 3 000 van trips every year

Luc Joris Posted On September 21, 2021

In Antwerp, city distributor CityDepot and bicycle courier Cargo Velo had some 3 000 delivery trips made by cargo bikes, which delivery vans would have normally made.

The trips were made during the first year of their collaboration. Both consider this a success and are continuing their collaboration.

Sustainable distribution

CityDepot, a division of BD Logistics, has eight branches on the outskirts of cities in Belgium from where it does sustainable distribution: small deliveries are done by bicycle couriers and large ones by electric or CNG delivery vans.

CityDepot works with various partners to ensure that the most optimal mode of transport is chosen to minimize traffic movements. This should benefit road safety as well as limit CO2 emissions.

From 2015 to 2019, CityDepot was a subsidiary of bpost. At the end of 2019, however, the postal company sold the city distribution company.

Ecosystem

In Antwerp, CityDepot and cycle courier Cargo Velo have been working together in co-spaces since September 2020. According to CityDepot, this has led to 5 to 10% of the volume passing through these depots being transported by bike over the past year.

Every month we talk about 200 to 400 deliveries that would normally be sent by van, but now go to the customer by cargo bike. Antwerp alderman for mobility, Koen Kennis (N-VA), calls the project “exactly what Antwerp needs”.

Legislation / Mobility / Public transport / Top Stories Today / Transport

Flemish entrepreneurs ask for smart road pricing

Tony Verhelle Posted On September 15, 2021

An association of Flemish entrepreneurs (Vlaamse Ondernemers) asks authorities to install a budget-neutral smart form of road pricing as soon as possible. This should be accompanied by extended use of technology to steer traffic flows.

The corona pandemic halved traffic congestion last year, but traffic was increasing again with every relaxation of measures. Furthermore, the association points out that every day in Flanders represents € 1,3 billion of economic loss.

Voka

“That’s why we call for important steering measures now,” says Goedele Sannen, mobility expert at Voka, the Flemish employer association that has taken the initiative to assemble all these entrepreneurs.

The most important measure is a smart system of road pricing. “To use your car when traffic jams are most frequent will cost money. A smart system of road pricing will take that into account, and congestion will diminish by at least 12%,” Sannen explains.

The new form of pricing will have to replace all other kinds of taxation so that the exercise will be budget-neutral. On the other hand, the association asks for more usable technology in traffic management.

“We have to take care of an infrastructure that is also ready for connected vehicles. The result is safer and more fluent traffic, with fewer accidents and traffic jams. Intelligent traffic lights can produce so-called ‘green waves’ to reduce time loss. Dynamic road signs adapt the behavior of car users in real-time.”

The association emphasizes that the whole exercise has already been worked out and calculated, but the politicians backed away in the end. “The ‘political climate’ wasn’t ready two years ago, and the so-called societal support wasn’t there. Today, the world has changed. So we have to use a good crisis, now is the time to tackle the ‘congestion monster’.”

Brussels and Wallonia

In the Flemish initiative above, one voice is missing until now: Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters (Open VLD).

She inherited the politically sensitive question of road pricing from her predecessor Ben Weyts (N-VA). Once a vigorous adept of the system, he completely changed his attitude and buried it. Peeters apparently tries not to wake sleeping dogs here.

Meanwhile, the three other Mobility Ministers (one federal, one for Wallonia, and one for Brussels) have also met to discuss the problems and solutions of traffic congestion. Knowing that all three are from the green parties, it’s not a big surprise that they favor so-called ‘multimodal’ solutions.

This implies that trains, trams, buses, and bikes have to be used more frequently and that they have to be united into one global transport system, especially in the capital. But, unfortunately, there’s no consensus yet over the way this system should work.

Part of the differences noticed is concerning road pricing. A while ago, the Brussels politicians shocked the rest of the country with their plan to install a hefty city toll for cars as soon as possible.

Brussels Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt is pushing heavily for such a system, but Wallonia’s Philippe Henry is far less convinced. So it’s federal mobility minister Georges Gilkinet who will have to mediate. And Flemish Minister Peeters will, better sooner than later, have to show colors at long last.

Times they are a-changing

The decision to tax the use of a car (or any other vehicle) and not its possession is evolving again. But, again, the aim is to better choose individual and/or public transport and avoid congestion.

Now that society’s entrepreneurial side comes into action and pleads for sound and effective measures to stop us from being stuck in traffic jams, the politicians (and the public) will have to move. How long this is still going to take, nobody in this country knows. But the state of urgency seems to increase steadily.

Climate / Energy / Environment / Mobility / Product / Top Stories Today / Transport

Federal authorities to ban diesel based on palm and soybean oil by 2023

Hilde Van Raemdonck Posted On September 13, 2021

The federal government has decided to ban palm and soybean oil for transport as of 2023. Basically, both products are biofuels, but they’re usually cultivated on deforested land, making them even more polluting.

Biodiesel, based on palm and soybean oil, is increasingly popular in Belgium, despite the negative impact on the climate. The main reason is that at least half of palm oil plantations are planted on deforested land.

Alternative transport

According to Minister of Energy, Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen), federal authorities are also focusing on the phasing out of biofuels of the first generation, often based on feed crops. “This way, we can evolve toward biofuels of the coming generations,” Van der Straeten says, “This is not our final destination.”

She also refers to alternative means of transport to cut back the use of outdated types of biofuels.

In July, Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, indicated that Total is pulling the plug on palm oil. For Total, it was one component to produce biofuels as it is the cheapest vegetable oil. Apparently, TotalEnergies has been listening to the growing criticism that this raw material threatens the biodiversity of the countries of origin (Malaysia and Indonesia).

Mobility / Services / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

Brussels taxi sector ‘ready to hire 600 Uber drivers’

Félix Bouland Posted On September 13, 2021

Waiting on the Brussels Region’ Taxi Plan, the sector has come up with its own proposals regarding the operating conditions of chauffeur-driven cars. According to the three associations, a distinction between the two jobs must be made clear, with taxis on one side and private chauffeurs such as those by embassies and VIP events on the other.

To avoid the bloodbath feared by Uber drivers, the sector declared it is ready to hire as many as 600 drivers on permanent contracts, it told newspaper L’Echo.

Minister-President of the Brussels Region, Rudy Vervoort (PS), had promised the arrival of a regional Taxi Plan for this summer. However, while the weather wasn’t particularly summery, July and August came and passed without any news.

Mid-September, the taxi sector is taking matters into its own hands and drafts a few proposals regarding the operating conditions of chauffeur-driven cars and a proposition for profitability.

Drivers wanted

The Brussels Taxi Federation (BFT), Taxi Workers Collective (CTT), and Ingoboka-Taxi aren’t in favor of the unique status for all drivers, as stated in the late-2020 Deloitte study. For them, a distinction must be made between taxi drivers and private chauffeurs, such as those used for events or by embassies. This would mean the end of Uber and any competitors playing in the same field and only the survival of the conventional taxi service. As a result, many drivers could find themselves jobless.

To that end, the federation says it’s ready to hire as many as 600 drivers on permanent contracts. However, for Sam Bouchal, spokesperson for the Brussels Taxi Federation, talking to newspaper L’Echo, these aren’t words in the wind, as one company, Victor Cab, currently needs 300 drivers.

License needed

The issue with that plan – the same issue at the base of this war between taxis and ride-hailing companies – is one of the licenses. Taxi drivers in Brussels must undergo training that includes information, tests, an optional training week, and exams on topography and taxi law. However, hiring drivers from Uber without a license creates a problem. So the sector suggests a system of “licenses renting”, such as in France.

Furthermore, the taxi sector has also been looking into profitability. It suggests abolishing the additional tariffs for outside Brussels and introducing a minimum price of eight euros per trip, which would stop drivers from refusing short trips.

Uber condemned in France again

After being condemned for deceptive commercial practices in December 2015 by the Paris Court of Appeal, Uber is now facing the consequences of the FrenchCivil Proceedings. For its Uber Pop activity, which puts users in relation with private drivers without any license, between 2014 and 2015, the ride-hailing company must pay a moral prejudice of €200 to 910 taxi drivers and €5 000 to Parisians cooperative taxi company’s unions.

Hydrogen / Public transport / Top Stories Today / Transport

First test of Alstom’s hydrogen train in France

Félix Bouland Posted On September 7, 2021

After successful trials in Germany and Italy, French train company Alstom hopes to bring its hydrogen-powered Coradia iLint on its home rails.

On Monday and for the first time in France, one of Alstom’s train cars has driven on a test site in Valenciennes. With its 800 to 1 000 km range, the hydrogen train could be the ideal solution to replace diesel locomotives.

“It’s a solution for the future. Our rail network today in France is 45% non-electrified. So we have two solutions: either we electrify it, with the cost that it implies, or we move towards hydrogen, which obviously has a future in France, and a European and world market to conquer”, said French Transport Minister, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari (LERM), to the AFP.

From Germany to France

While Alstom’s hydrogen train is making the news in France, it has, in fact, already been in service in Germany since 2018. After those two-year-long successful trials, two German Länder have already ordered 41 Coradia iLint to Alstom.

The story doesn’t end there. Clients have also been found in Italy, where rail operator FNM ordered 14. Tests are also going on in Austria, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

The success of Alstom’s hydrogen train is to be found on its roof, where the fuel is kept. With a range of 800 to 1 000 km, the iLint is fully capable of replacing conventional diesel locomotives while offering more flexibility than battery-powered vehicles.

In France, where 45% of the rail network isn’t equipped with electricity, and 1 200 diesel trains run daily, representing 20% of the traffic, hydrogen could be the future solution.

Dual-mode train

Four regions in France have already ordered 12 Alstom Regiolis dual-mode trains. Those are hybrid electric-hydrogen machines, which are designed to meet the mixed needs of the French national rail network with a range of up to 600 km on non-electrified sections.

Mobility / Opinion / Top Stories Today / Transport

Traffic jams are back all the way

Luc Joris Posted On September 7, 2021

212 km, or about the distance between Brussels and Ostend, both ways. That is the number of kilometers of traffic jams in Belgium yesterday morning. Between 30 August and 3 September, congestion on Flemish motorways was even 14% higher than in the same week in 2019.

It is the first time since the start of the corona crisis in March last year that the Traffic Centre has recorded a higher congestion density outside a holiday period than in the same week in the corona-free year 2019. However, traffic experts warn that the real tipping point will only come at the beginning of October.

Effect of pandemic ebbs away

During the corona crisis, traffic jams disappeared considerably. In 2020, motorway traffic decreased by 18,3%, and congestion halved compared to the corona-free year before.

But now, the effect of the corona crisis on the Flemish motorways ebbs away. Around 1 September, the start of the new school year, they were 14% higher than in a similar period in 2019, says the Flemish Traffic Centre.

In the Antwerp region, it was 8% higher, in the Brussels region 2% higher. Especially Thursday and Friday stood out with heavy traffic jams. But during the weekend, in and around Antwerp, it was 69% higher, and in and around Brussels, it was 25% more on average than in 2019.

Traffic expert Hajo Beeckman: “Those weekend peaks are due to leisure traffic. Now that the corona measures are relaxing, we are regaining our freedom, and that translates into trips to have a drink or visit friends or places.”

Traffic jams on regional roads

According to the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, it is noteworthy that since last week there have also been traffic jam problems on regional and city roads, including around Aalst and Mechelen. This may be because people are taking their children to school more often by car.

“There is still a fear of contagion,” says Beeckman. “Flemish public transport company De Lijn’s figures are not good. The increase in the number of passengers is still below the increase in car traffic.”

Road works

Finally, there is another explanation for the traffic jams: road works. Commuters on the E314 between Aarschot and Leuven can testify this, as a rush-hour lane will be built there until October.

On the E17 in Gentbrugge, the last phase of the infamous, crumbling viaduct renovation is started. On the E403 near Ardooie, there is disruption due to the renovation of another bridge.

And minor road works are not even considered in these. But they can seriously aggravate congestion locally, especially when they’re not coordinated with each other, which is often the case.

Worst yet to come

Nevertheless, the number of kilometers traveled on Flemish motorways remains below the pre-pandemic level for the time being. There is still 2,6% less traffic on the motorways and 4,2% less car traffic in general, but 1,6% more freight traffic. More freight traffic has been a trend for some time and is probably due to people increasing parcel deliveries.

The Traffic Centre assumes that traffic congestion will increase significantly at the end of September, as it does every year. That is when higher education starts; most people are back from holiday, and the first autumn weather can also impact traffic. An uncertain factor is teleworking: how much of an impact it will have on traffic remains to be seen.

Right now, it seems that many employers have forgotten their good intentions on permanent teleworking and are demanding their employees to be at the office again as much as possible.

Energy / Environment / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

Swiss set Guinness world record range for battery-electric truck

Joris Van Roy Posted On September 1, 2021

Swiss e-truck conversion brand Futuricum and Deutsche Post’s DPD have set an official Guinness World Record, winning the title of the longest distance covered by an electric truck without a charging stop with 1 099 kilometers driven.

The truck was already in daily use for six months by DPD Switzerland for runs up to 300 km. It’s a converted diesel Volvo FH 19-ton truck with a 680 hp electric drive and a battery capacity of 680 kilowatt-hours.

Average of 50 km/h

The record was set at 50 km/hour with an empty truck on a 2,8-kilometer-long, oval test track at Continental. The latter provided rolling resistance optimized tires. It took two drivers, alternating in shifts of four and a half hours, a total of 23 hours, and 392 laps. At the finish, 2% of capacity was left in the battery.

The average speed of 50 km/hour (31 mph) is a realistic average value for everyday use, the initiators of the record attempt say. According to the record data, the (unloaded) vehicle’s curb weight, including the swap body, was 15,5 metric tons. The average consumption was 58 kWh/100 km.

Initially, the press release says the weather conditions were not ideal with 14 degrees outside temperature and only around 23 degrees ground temperature. In addition, the wind blew at an average of 18 km/h with gusts of up to 40 km/h.

300 km every day easily

In real life, the truck performs less spectacular but highly satisfactory, DPD says. “The Futuricum truck has been traveling between the depot in Möhlin near Basel to the distribution center in Buchs/Zurich for about six months now,” says Marc Frank, Strategy & Innovation Director at DPD Switzerland.

“The e-truck can master the roughly 300 kilometers every day without any problems. We are proud that we have now been able to document our performance level officially.”

Converted Volvo trucks

Futuricum is the e-brand of Swiss Designwerk Products AG with headquarters in Winterthur. The brand arose from a project in collaboration with the Swiss Office of Energy (BFE), Volvo Trucks, Contena Ochsner AG, and other partners, focusing on developing and constructing efficient, eco-friendly, and powerful electric trucks.

Those converted Volvo FM, FA, and FMX trucks are used in distribution waste collection, construction, agriculture, and forestry. The 680 kW/h battery (4 x 170 kWh) used in the ‘record’ truck with a theoretical range of 760 km isn’t the largest in Futuricum’s portfolio. That is a 900 kW/h (4 x 225 kWh) configuration.

Hydrogen / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport

Hydrolog project shows feasibility of H2-powered harbor logistics

Joris Van Roy Posted On September 1, 2021

After a pilot of six weeks in the Antwerp harbor at two container terminals, the Hydrolog project shows the feasibility to operate forklifts and terminal tractors on hydrogen, WaterstofNet, and the Flanders Innovation cluster for Logistics (VIL) conclude.

Getting the official licenses proved to be time-consuming and costly as legislation still has to follow. The heavy impact on internal industrial organization and safety procedures, plus today’s cost of hydrogen, are the main hurdles to take. But the conclusion is that provided the right setup, hydrogen to be used in harbor logistics can be competitive with battery-electric alternatives.

BEV has a price advantage today

Battery-electric fork trucks have a price advantage today, the initiators say. Still, if you consider personnel costs and lower productivity during battery-swapping or charging and the expected future price drops for hydrogen, the balance tilts over. VIL developed a tool for companies to calculate exactly the costs of operating their logistic fleet on hydrogen.

The harbor environment is especially suited for hydrogen used in transport and logistics, the initiators say, as hydrogen is available in large quantities for use in the local chemical industry.

That hydrogen is ‘grey’, though, as it is produced merely from natural gas, which creates CO2 emissions in the process. For sustainable ‘green’ hydrogen, you need renewable sources like wind or solar energy.

Mobile hydrogen filling station

In the project, a mobile hydrogen filling station was provided by WaterstofNet, the Flemish-Dutch non-profit organization that brings together companies, knowledge centers, and government authorities in specific hydrogen projects.

A mobile hydrogen filling station is seen as a way to avoid the high cost associated with a fixed infrastructure, which is often the main threshold for companies to invest in green technology. Several companies could share a mobile station.

AET and PSA Antwerp

As part of the study, hydrogen-powered terminal tractors were tested at the logistic sites of Antwerp Euroterminal (AET) and later at PSA Antwerp. AET is Europe’s largest multipurpose terminal, and home to the multinational logistics group Grimaldi specialized in roll-on/roll-off vessels, car carriers, and ferries.

PSA Antwerp, the merger of former port operators, Hessenatie and Noord Natie, is part of the Singapore-based PSA International group, one of the largest port groups in the world specialized in container handling.

12-ton battery-electric terminal tractor

AET tried out using a 12-ton battery-electric terminal tractor, but it takes too long to charge an electric tractor like this, especially when it is to be used round the clock in three shifts. On the other hand, a fuel-cell-powered tractor like the one in the test, capable of pulling 70 tons, can be filled up in minutes with hydrogen.

Besides the actual harbor tests, demo’s were organized under the umbrella of the Hydrolog project with a total of 18 companies participating: Aertssen, Air Liquide, Antwerp Euroterminal (AET), Brussels Airport, Delhaize, DEME, Ecosource, Engie Electrabel, Fluxys, Inovyn, Kalmar, Motrac, MPET, POM Limburg, PSA Antwerp, Rental, STILL, and Toyota Material Handling.

Hydrogen pioneers

So far, there is one public hydrogen filling station at the Antwerp harbor. CMB-Tech, a branch of the Company Maritime Belge (CMB) shipping company and pioneer in hydrogen applications in its sector, has built a filling station at the Port House to provide both road vehicles and ships with hydrogen at the same time.

CMB Tech also worked out a mobile solution with a truck trailer capable of delivering up to 600 kg of compressed hydrogen (350 bar) on site.

Mobility / Services / Top Stories Today / Transport

‘UK should recruit native workers to solve lack of truck drivers’

Hilde Van Raemdonck Posted On August 30, 2021

British transport companies should better recruit British drivers to solve the lack of drivers in the country instead of drawing drivers from abroad. The British Ministry of Economics calls on British employers to invest in native staff.

The United Kingdom suffers from a severe lack of drivers. Transport companies have difficulties with the distribution of goods and, as a result, restaurants and supermarkets have provisioning problems. Production companies are waiting for raw materials, and stores are already warning people to spread Christmas shopping.

Provisioning problems

Last Tuesday, fast-food chain McDonald’s already announced not to be able anymore to serve instant milkshakes or bottled drinks, and one of its competitors – Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) – also said to be forced to scrap some dishes from the menu. Several other famous and less famous chains suffer from similar provisioning problems.

The shortage of drivers is not new, but the problem is worse than ever, partly due to Brexit and the pandemic. Many European drivers left the country and will probably not return either. Young drivers, meanwhile, opted for another job, and the older generation of drivers is retiring.

Christmas fiasco

Earlier, transport organizations asked British authorities for more flexible visa regulations for foreign drivers, particularly drivers from East European countries. But the recent call of the ministry shows the opposite.

Truck or van drivers in the UK should be British drivers, and it’s time to act because nobody wants another Christmas fiasco. The lockdown marked Christmas 2020; this Christmas, the British risk having bare Christmas trees and tables.

Aviation / Mobility / Top Stories Today / Transport

Egypt, Moroccco: Brussels Airlines ventures into “not recommended” destinations

Luc Joris Posted On August 27, 2021

Brussels Airlines will again fly to more remote tourist destinations in the coming months. It will add Marrakech in Morocco and Hurghada in Egypt to its offer, destinations that the government currently strongly discourages because of the corona pandemic.

According to the airline, the demand for those sunny winter destinations is increasing, especially with the tour operators. Therefore, Brussels Airlines hopes that the travel advice will still change, says spokeswoman Maaike Andries to the Belga news agency.

Red zones

As of 30 September, Brussels Airlines will fly for the first time to Marrakech in Morocco, with flights on Thursdays and Sundays. The carrier is aiming at a mixed public of tourists and people visiting families. In June, Brussels Airlines also started operating flights to Tanger and Nador.

One month later, for the first time since March 2020, when the corona crisis started, the airline will fly to Egypt’s resort town of Hurghada on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Travel to countries outside the EU and Schengen area is still strongly discouraged. Moreover, Morocco and Egypt are considered red zones. For red zones outside the EU, stricter rules apply upon return to Belgium: even vaccinated persons must be tested. Those without a vaccination certificate must spend at least seven days in quarantine and undergo two tests.

More flights to sunny destinations

Lanzarote, however, is within the European Union, and Brussels Airlines will start offering it from 31 October. The airline also says it will fly more to Tenerife and Gran Canaria during the school holidays.

The full winter offer will be announced in September. How much capacity Brussels Airlines will use is not yet clear. “It will be lower than this summer,” says the spokeswoman. “September and October are still OK; there is still demand for holiday flights. But we will have to wait and see what the capacity of the entire winter will be.”

Aviation / Industry / Top Stories Today / Transport

Is there a future for ITA (formerly Alitalia)?

Tony Verhelle Posted On August 27, 2021

On the 15th of October, Alitalia (AerolineeInternazionali Italiane, also called ‘the wings of Italy’) will not exist anymore and be replaced by ITA, for Italia Trasporto Aereo). As a result, the fleet of Alitalia will be halved; the personnel is waiting anxiously for the impact on their lives.

Alitalia was created in 1947, after World War II, and began (like many other national carriers, remember Sabena) to run into trouble in the nineties, after the deregulation of air transport. Then, it carried one Italian air passenger out of two, totaling 28 million, and employed 22 000 people.

Continuous losses

Losses were accumulated, and restructuring was the keyword, but that always seemed cosmetic until now in Italy. A possible marriage with the Dutch national aircraft carrier KLM collapsed very soon after the honeymoon.

In 2008, Alitalia already went bankrupt the first time, and a new company (Alitalia-CAI) was created thanks to the Italian state absorbing all debts. Despite continuous losses, Middle-East carrier Etihad showed interest and created a third version of Alitalia, Societa Aerea Italiana.

In 2017, losses had already accumulated again, and the Italian State came rescuing once more, with transactions still under investigation by European authorities. Since then, things have worsened, but the pandemic halted some urgent settlements, and Europe showed itself more lenient for direct state aid.

Too heavy to survive

For years now, the Italian State has been looking for other partners to replace Etihad, and some showed interest. Still, all asked for a big ‘clean up’ on the personnel side, 11 000 employees being far too many for a company of this size.

The more so that the new company ITA will have to reduce its fleet to some 50 aircraft, almost half of what Alitalia used to have. According to different Italian sources, the new company plans to offer around 60 routes toward 45 destinations worldwide.

It remains to be seen if the loss of weight (in all departments) will work for the new company and how the unions will react. Almost all air carriers are in (very) difficult weather, especially the big national carriers.

Low-cost carriers, Ryanair leading the pack, seem to be recuperating better and quicker. The Irish ‘pirate’ has even shown some interest in the remains of Alitalia, a rather cynical change of destiny when one knows that carriers like Ryanair are the nails on the coffin of these once so proud national companies.

Climate / Energy / Environment / Maritime / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport

Maersk to order eight ocean-going container ships on methanol

Joris Van Roy Posted On August 27, 2021

Danish shipping giant Maersk announced this week it has ordered eight new ocean-going container ships that will run on carbon-neutral methanol instead of heavy fuel. The vessels will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) by 2024 and have a capacity of approximately 16 000 containers (Twenty-Foot Equivalent – TEU).

Methanol can be burned in a suitably adapted marine diesel engine. It still emits CO2, but if made from renewable sources like biomass or made of captured CO2 and ‘green hydrogen’, the equation should be carbon-neutral. Maersk sees it as a transition to hydrogen or even ammonia (synthesized from nitrogen and hydrogen in an electrochemical process).

Option for four more ships

Maersk says the deal with HHI includes an option for four more ships in 2025. “The series will replace older vessels, generating annual CO2 emissions savings of around 1 million tonnes. As an industry first, the vessels will offer Maersk customers truly carbon-neutral transportation at scale on the high seas, ” the press release states.

Maersk is the largest container shipping line and vessel operator in the world since 1996. About 200 of its largest customers have set – or are in the process of setting – ambitious science-based or zero-carbon targets for their supply chains, the company says.

Among them, big names like Amazon, Disney, H&M Group, HP Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Microsoft, Novo Nordisk, Procter and Gamble, PUMA, Schneider Electric, Signify, Syngenta, and Unilever “have committed to actively use and scale zero-carbon solutions for their ocean transport, with many more expected to follow.”

Paying more

They’ll likely have to pay more in the future, as those carbon-neutral fuels like e-methanol, ammonia, or hydrogen are at least twice as expensive today. The new ships will come with dual-fuel capabilities, meaning they can burn conventional low Sulphur fuel or methanol in a mixture.

But even if the sector keeps on using traditional fuels, prices will rise in Europe, as the EU Commission’s Fit for 55 proposals are finally targeting the maritime shipping sector left undisturbed for decades regarding CO2 emissions. Shipping will be included in the Emissions Trading System (ETS), where companies will have to buy CO2-quotas from 2023.

No time to waste

A.P. Moller–Maersk said in July when the proposals were published to support most of them. “The EU basket of measures should serve as an incubator to show the International Maritime Organization that significant GHG reductions are possible and do not lead to major increases in consumer prices,” CEO Søren Skou wrote on LinkedIn.

At the Danish Maersk headquarters, they believe there is no time to waste if the sector wants to decarbonize even partly (50%) by 2050, and the ‘green methanol’ solution is something they can start with as soon as 2024.

The big challenge, though, will be to find real ‘green methanol’ at reasonable prices. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), around 98 million tonnes (Mt) of methanol are produced per annum worldwide, nearly all from fossil fuels being either natural gas or coal. That’s no option. So far, less than 0,2 Mt of renewable methanol is produced annually, mostly as bio-methanol.

Energy / Industry / Product / Services / Top Stories Today / Transport

ACM and Magna sign MoU on production of City One

Tony Verhelle Posted On August 18, 2021

Adaptive City Mobility GmbH (ACM) is targeting mass production of the ACM City One in 2024. The Munich-based company and contract manufacturer Magna have signed a memorandum of understanding to sell 208 000 vehicles.

ACM founder and CEO Paul Leibold plans to present the City One for the first time at the IAA trade fair, reports the German newspaper Handelsblatt. “To get out of the development phase with the vehicle, the company has prepared a feasibility study,” Leibold said. The test vehicles will be produced in 2023, with series production in plants in Asia at the latest in early 2024.

ACM published a preview of the series version of the modular electric vehicle and the associated ecosystem, created with federal funding at the end of June. At the same time, the company announced cooperation with the Porsche subsidiary MHP and the ex-Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann (see further).

According to the report, the company is currently in a new round of financing. ACM is in talks with several strategic investors, also from the Arab and Asian regions. According to Leibold, the interest is very high.

Six years of development

The City One results from around six years of development work – initially in the Adaptive City Mobility 2 (ACM) project from the “ICT for Electromobility” technology program, and now under the direction of ACM GmbH.

According to Leibold, the vehicle is particularly suitable for ride-hailing and shared mobility fleets and in combination with a B2B pool-sharing platform intended to optimize vehicle utilization and ensure energy supply around the clock.

Battery swapping

The new version of the City One presented in June positions ACM in a niche: small, lightweight, and, therefore, simple and affordable city electric vehicles that can be operated with low voltage due to their low weight.

With its modular design, the 3,6-meter short and up to 110 kph fast ACM City One can be transformed from a passenger car to a van in just a few steps to transport up to four passengers or loads with a load volume of up to 1 450 liters.

A battery exchange system in combination with intelligent home charging should enable the versatile use of the BEV. Fast-chargers aren’t needed; one can use the home normal power plug or swap the batteries that function as range extenders.

One can put those batteries (four, each weighing 10,5 kg) in an additional roof box or get them in battery stations or from battery vans delivering charged batteries. Also, battery swapping between vehicles is possible. They guarantee a range of some 100 km.

Intelligent connectivity

ACM says it has designed an entire e-vehicle ecosystem consisting of the vehicle, the energy supply, and the data platform that allows the ecosystem to function.

“ACM aims to offer a range of value-added services via its fleet data platform. The services conceived include fleet management, B2B pool sharing/mobility as a service, energy as a service, data-based insurance, preventive maintenance, telecom data, advertisements, and more,” says CBO Rajarshi Sahai.

“By effectively utilizing the multitude of ACM energy solutions, the energy as a service offering helps the operators in extracting the maximum uptime from their fleets that are losing productive hours to charging,” he adds.

“The B2B pool-sharing platform offers the flexibility to operators to do cargo and passenger trips in combination, reducing the empty trips (and increasing the utilization of the vehicles). Not to mention that operators will be rewarded for safer operations, made possible by preventive maintenance and data-based insurance,” explains Sahai.

The company recently announced that MHP, a Porsche subsidiary, will help it develop the digital platform. “MHP is a leader in the digital ecosystem for the automotive industry. They help us in bringing together the best partners, suppliers, and industry knowledge for our digital product and digital company development,” says CEO Leibold.

Ex-Opel CEO, Karl-Thomas Neumann, has also joined ACM as an advisor and an investor. He is supporting the overall business model and helping with the company’s fundraising.

Neumann states: “At some point, you reach a stage in vehicle development and production where it doesn’t get any cheaper, no matter how much extra effort you put in. The total cost of ownership (TCO) can only be further reduced for fleet operators and thus ultimately for the end customer if additional services and new revenue streams are developed. ACM achieves this by intelligently connecting the EV vehicle fleet.”

Utility first

Rajarshi Sahai: “ACM aims to make a commercial launch in 2023 across emerging and Western markets. We also have some upcoming announcements on customer and channel partnerships. That will provide more insight into our roll-out plans.”

“In my view, Sahai continues, “much of the urban mobility and last-mile delivery will move to EVs by 2030. Multipurpose and efficient vehicles like City One will be key to bringing unforeseen scale and positive unit economics to the shared mobility sector.”

“The focus will ideally shift to utility rather than the notion of automobiles as a prized possession, at least in the urban and peri-urban areas,” he concludes. “A combined effect of the above will be cities with less noise and air pollution, and trips becoming more purposeful than the incessant commuting behavior from the pre-Covid era.”

Mobility / Product / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport

Be-Mobile develops traffic app for Olympic village in Paris

Luc Joris Posted On August 10, 2021

The Ghent-based mobility company and Proximus daughter Be-Mobile will develop an application to manage the logistics flow for the construction of the athletes’ village for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The estimated 400 trucks that will pass through Paris daily will be guided along their entire route by this fleet management system, Be-Mobile reported on Monday.

The app is meant to help the French company Mobility by Colas that was appointed to organize the last mile logistics flows to construct the infrastructure mainly located in the towns of Saint-Ouen, Saint-Denis, and L’Ile-Saint-Denis, north of the French Capital.

Mobility by Colas, a subsidiary of the Bouygues Group, chose Be-Mobile to add its fleet management system and driver companion app to avoid additional traffic congestion in the already busy Paris city center.

Truckmeister app

Every construction company that participates in the athletes’ village will be asked to work with the Truckmeister app, developed by Be-Mobile. The app manages communication between the platform of Mobility by Colas and the truck driver.

At the same time, Mobility by Colas will also use Qievo, a digital service designed to optimize mobility around construction sites in dense urban areas. Qievo is based on a central control station operated by agents in constant contact with the sites and the deliverers. It uses an ecosystem approach to manage logistics, traffic, and infrastructure as a whole.

Waiting area

Truckmeister will provide a detailed picture of the vehicles driving on the selected routes and provide information on their location, speed, and direction. Truck drivers can use the app to see which road is best to use. They can, for example, also be asked to wait before entering the city because too many trucks are already entering.

Trucks enter the athletes’ village via three to five carefully selected routes, minimizing the impact on others. In fact, the trucks are first directed to a waiting area before they enter Paris. They are told when they may leave the waiting car park to meet their time slot in the athletes’ village.

Reduce traffic impact

Be-Mobile has already made such an app for the port of Zeebrugge to keep the freight traffic there on the right track. It also developed the route planner Smart Ways to Antwerp for the city of Antwerp.

“With this collaboration, we have developed a unique service that manages mobility to and from the construction site of the athletes’ village, but also minimizes inconvenience for residents and other road users,” says Gerd Nees, Offering Manager Fleet at Be-Mobile.

“Actually, we are constantly monitoring and looking at how many trucks can drive through the city at what time. We do everything we can to ease the pressure on traffic and keep it liveable for everyone.”

Industry / Product / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

Tesla’s Model Y to arrive in Zeebrugge on August 15th

Joris Van Roy Posted On August 10, 2021

On August 15th, between 3 and 5 p.m., the car carrier Helios Ray which left Shanghai on July 12th, is to dock at the Belgian Zeebrugge harbor with the long-awaited first Tesla Model Ys for Europe. The Model Y for Europe was scheduled to be built at the new Giga Berlin Tesla factory starting in July. Still, delays forced the American carmaker to have them imported from its Chinese factory to deliver as promised in September in Europe.

The news that the ‘Tesla Model Y arrived in Europe’ was posted with a video link on LinkedIn by a German Tesla Senior Key Account Manager on Monday and picked up by the Teslarati.com site. On its EU sites, Tesla maintains the delivery dates starting in September.

Stop in Palermo

Actually, the 200-meter long vehicle carrier Helios Ray made a stop in Palermo, Sicily, as a first European harbor on Monday and is now at the time of writing, half the route to Sardegna, making its way at a steady 17,6 knots (32,5 km/h) to Zeebrugge, according to vesselfinder.com.

Tesla is delivering the Model Y already in large volumes in China and the US, but Europe is still waiting for the deliveries of the first of two model versions, the Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive Long Range.

The latter is a fully electric, mid-size SUV, with seating for up to seven, a top speed of 217 km/h, and an estimated range of 505 km. Prices start at €63 000 in Belgium. The more powerful Performance version (€70 000) is due for 2022.

EU’s largest car terminals

Zeebrugge is Tesla’s distribution spearhead in Europe, where all models arrive and are prepared for distribution over the continent by roll-on/roll-off goods handler and vehicle processing specialist, International Car Operators (ICO).

ICO, a daughter of Japanese transport giant Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), is the global market leader in the port handling and storage of roll-on/roll-off cargo, running the world’s largest car terminals. In Belgium, ICO runs the car terminals in Zeebrugge and the port of Antwerp.

In the field of importing and exporting vehicles, for instance. Zeebrugge was already leading ‘car harbor’ in Europe with 2 191 299 new cars a year arriving, Antwerp adds another 768 625. Not to count second-hand cars for export mainly.

Main port for Tesla cars

ICO delivers ‘vehicle processing’ services to car importers. That implies cleaning of cars, removal of the protecting paraffin or co-polymer layer from the cars (dewax), car inspection following the instructions of the customer, body repairs and mounting of accessories, providing manuals, applying or removing a special protective foil on new cars (wrapping), the preparation of lease cars, and maintenance for long-term stored vehicles.

Zeebrugge is the main port for Tesla cars arriving in Europe. Elon Musk personally came to Zeebrugge to inspect the first ship’s handling with 1 000 cars arriving with the car carrier Glovis Captain in February 2019. Since that date, some 3 000 Tesla models a week are leaving Zeebrugge for 14 EU countries.

Charged with green electricity

But besides Tesla, which is ICO’s biggest client, for the time being, most Chinese brands also opt for Zeebrugge to access the EU, including the Geely-Volvo siblings, Polestar, and Lynk & Co. Moreover, since the end of February, the new 11 units wind farm from ICO with a total capacity of 44 MW, is charging thousands of Tesla cars and Chinese EVs before further shipment through Europe.

According to Marc Adriansens, CEO of ICO Zeebrugge, the possibility to deliver green electricity to charge the incoming vehicles was a crucial condition for the EV carmakers to choose Zeebrugge.

Aviation / Industry / Top Stories Today / Transport

Brussels Airlines: 57% fewer passengers and €143 million loss

Félix Bouland Posted On August 6, 2021

As the summer holidays are in full swing and air transport is taking off, Brussels Airline is at half-mast with an EBIT loss of 143 million euro at mid-2021. Revenues have dropped by 45% compared to the same period last year while the number of passengers transported between January and June fell by 57%.

Mother company Lufthansa, for its part, has announced having managed to cut its losses by half in the second quarter of 2021 and even reaching positive cash flow for the first time since the pandemic.

Ever since Covid-19 hit, the air transport sector has been in dire straits. Planes have been grounded, companies have gone bust, most of them lost money, and employees even lost their jobs. According to big players, this summer will play a key role in their future health. Brussels Airline remains cautious and doesn’t forecast any results for the annual financial year.

-45% in revenues

In a recent press release, Belgian air transport company, Brussels Airlines, paints a bleak picture of these past few months. Compared to last year, especially counting in the pre-Covid period, half-year revenues have dropped by 45% to 138 million euros. Between January and June, the company transported 57% fewer passengers.

“The Covid-19 crisis forced Brussels Airlines, after a good start to the year, to almost completely suspend operations between mid-March and mid-June 2020. Since then, numbers have been significantly lower and have not year recovered the pre-crisis levels”, notes the airline in a press release.

‘Tired and stressed’

Besides the financial aspect, the situation isn’t brighter on the side of employees. Propositions to make working conditions easier have been judged insufficient by unions, noting that the personnel is “tired and stressed”.

That being said, unions have made known that no strikes are in the pipeline. They just call upon Belgium, which helped the company with a 290 million euro envelope, to take responsibility and stop Lufthansa from pulling strings alone.

€756 million loss for Lufthansa

German airline group Lufthansa has managed to cut its losses by half this second quarter of 2021, posting a net profit of -756 million euro compared to -1,5 billion euro in 2020. The airline also confirms the sector’s recovery, albeit a slow one, noting that bookings have doubled for June alone.

Consequently, Lufthansa also reached positive cash flow for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. For the whole year, the German airline plans to reach 40% of the pre-Covid levels.

On Wednesday, a White House representative informed that the administration plans to reopen the USA’s borders to fully vaccinated passengers. “The reopening of transatlantic flights is only a question of time. It is still very important, as transatlantic flights are the most profitable ones”, noted Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa.

Aviation / Energy / Environment / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport

DHL Express to fly twelve Alice electric cargo planes

Joris Van Roy Posted On August 4, 2021

DHL Express, the international courier and package delivery service division of Deutsche Post DHL Group, has ordered a fleet of twelve fully electric eCargo planes from the electric airplane manufacturer Eviation in Seattle.

Alice, as the plane is baptized, is flown by a single pilot and can carry a load of 1 200 kg. It ranges up to 440 nautical miles (814 km) and can charge at 30 minutes per flight hour. Alice’s first flight is scheduled for this year, final delivery for 2024.

Suppliers from eleven countries

In a hangar at Arlington Municipal Airport, just north of Seattle, Eviation is currently building the first Alice airplane, a passenger version for nine people and two crew to take off before the end of the year.

The plane is constructed with parts from suppliers in eleven different countries. Among them are GKN Aerospace, which delivers the wings, tail, and wiring, or the aerospace division of Honeywell. The latter contributes with fly-by-wire systems and cockpit instruments and screens, among others.

Two 640 kW motors

Alice is a fully electric airplane of 17 meters long and with a wingspan of 18 meters. It is battery-powered and propelled by two 640-kW magi650 electric propulsion units from the sister company MagniX.

This final production version differs quite dramatically from the prototype first shown at the 2019 Paris Air Show. The V-shaped tail became a ‘classic’ T-shape. The propellers at the wingtips complemented by a tail propeller are replaced by two units attached to the fuselage at the rear; a more simplified design, suggested by potential clients.

It only needs an airstrip of around 790 m to take off and land and flies at a maximum altitude of 32 000 feet (9 753 m), and reaches a cruising speed of 220 knots (407 km/h). In the eCargo version for DHL, flown by one pilot, the plane can carry a load of 1 200 kg.

Fewer moving parts

“Alice will operate in all environments currently serviced by piston and turbine aircraft,” DHL says in its press release. “Alice’s advanced electric motors have fewer moving parts to increase reliability and reduce maintenance costs. Its operating software constantly monitors flight performance to ensure optimal efficiency.”

Eviation was originally founded in 2015 by its current CEO, Omer Bar-Yohay, in Israel, where it still has a small research and development unit. Most of the staff – some 90 people – work in Arlington near Seattle, where its headquarters are.

Eviation’s chairman, Roei Ganzarski, is an Israeli-born former Boeing executive who is also the CEO of Seattle-based MagniX, the sister company delivering the engines.

Transforming aviation industry

“From day one, we set an audacious goal to transform the aviation industry and create a new era with electric aircraft,” said Eviation CEO Omer Bar-Yohay. “Partnering with companies like DHL, who are the leaders in sustainable e-cargo transportation, is a testament that the electric era is upon us.”

DPDHL Group’s new Sustainability roadmap announced in Q1 2021 targets zero emissions by 2050, like the EU is doing. The Group says it is investing a total of 7 billion euros by 2030 in measures to reduce its CO2 emissions. The funds will particularly go toward electrification of the last-mile delivery fleet, sustainable aviation fuels, and climate-neutral buildings.

Energy / Environment / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport

Daimler preps eEconic refuse truck for series production

Joris Van Roy Posted On July 28, 2021

Daimler Trucks is currently submitting its electric version of the Econic, its low-floor truck for municipal operations, to the final technical tests on the circuit, preparing for series production at the Wörth factory in the second half of 2022. The eEconic refuse truck shares its basic technology with the eActros.

As a result, the eEconic will feature the same technical specifications. That means it can be equipped with up to three battery packs of 105 kWh each. These can be charged at up to 160 kW if the charging infrastructure at the client’s depot allows this. The battery packs can be charged from 20 to 80% in ‘a little longer than one hour’ at a 400A DC charger.

Ideally suited as waste truck

According to the press release, “the eEconic with a gross vehicle weight rating of 27 tons will initially be launched on the market in its configuration as a refuse collection vehicle with the wheel configuration 6×2/NLA.”

A typical ICE-powered Econic today is used by municipalities for waste collection and all kinds of local interventions. It can be equipped with several configurations like containers, lifts, or tanks. Moreover, the continuous stop-and-go operation of a refuse truck makes it very suitable for electric operation, eliminating a lot of noise, which can be a real asset early in the morning or at night.

“The eEconic is ideally suited for its designated role as a refuse collection vehicle. Furthermore, the high proportion of stop-and-go driving, reliably plannable daily routes averaging 100 km, and the charging of the batteries at the customers’ depots add up to an ideal application for the mission profile of the battery-electric low-floor truck,” says Ralf Forcher, Head of Mercedes Benz Special Truck.

Daimler Truck doesn’t specify a typical range for the eEconic, but its heavy-duty sibling, the eActros, presented on Wednesday, 30 June in its final version, has doubled its range from 200 to 400 km.

Production in 2022

Today, the engineers focus in the tests on trials of the vehicle’s safety, performance, and durability, and this is also in extreme winter or summer conditions. That includes noise measurements and testing on rough roads. In the next phase, the eEconic will be tested by clients in real-life working conditions.

In the second half of 2022, serial production starts at Daimler Truck’s e-truck factory in Wörth, in Rhineland-Palatinate, near Karlsruhe in Germany. In 2027, the company wants to supplement its vehicle portfolio by adding series-produced hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles.

250 eCanters delivered

Meanwhile, Daimler Truck announced on Wednesday that it already delivered more than 250 all-electric FUSO eCanters in Europe, the US, Japan, and New Zealand in 16 different countries. That includes 12 EU countries like the Netherlands, France, and Germany, but Belgium isn’t one of them.

FUSO is the Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation brand, owned for nearly 90% by Daimler Truck and headquartered in Kawasaki, Japan. The FUSO eCanter is Daimler Truck’s first all-electric light-duty truck in small-series production. It’s a 7,49-ton vehicle with a range of over 100 km, a top speed of 80 km/hour, and an output of 129 kW.

Climate / Environment / Europe / Maritime / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

Europe’s maritime sector ‘welcomes’ Fit for 55 as a crowbar

Joris Van Roy Posted On July 16, 2021

The EU Commission Fit for 55 proposals are finally targeting the maritime shipping sector left undisturbed for decades regarding CO2 emissions. Shipping will be included in the Emissions Trading System (ETS), where companies will have to buy CO2-quotas from 2023.

In Europe, shipping companies are not averse to using the EU ETS system, although it’s not entirely what they hoped for. It could be useful as a crowbar to force the rest of the shipping world to further progress than the IMO (International Maritime Organization) so far. Outside the EU, the rest of the maritime world is not so enthusiastic.

Credits for every ton of CO2

Under the ETS Maritime proposals, shipping companies will have to buy credits for every ton of CO2 they are emitting during voyages between ports within Europe. And while their generators keep on turning at the dock to provide the ship with energy, if not connected to an onshore power supply (OPS).

For voyages originating from or with a destiny within the EU, 50% of the total CO2 emissions will be considered. The EU ETS will focus on large ships — above 5 000 gross tonnage — loading or unloading cargo or passengers at ports in the European Economic Area (EEA), regardless of the flag they fly.

Meager IMO targets

It will be implemented gradually from 2023 on for part of the emissions, increasing to 100% by 2026. The Commission’s targets are to ‘limit greenhouse gas intensity of the energy used on-board ships by -2% (compared to 2020) by 2025, -6% by 2030, -13% by 2035 up to -75% by 2050. That’s quite a difference with the meager targets of -40% (compared to 2008) in 2030 and -50% by 2050 set by the IMO.

Danish Shipping’s Executive Director of Security, Environment, and Maritime Research, Maria Skipper Schwenn, called the Fit for 55 in a first reaction ‘looking very reasonably’. “We support shipping being a part of the ETS, but we would have preferred that the Commission start with travels between two EU-ports,” she added in a comment.

“That would have made room for negotiations on global solutions at the IMO. “If the EU plays its cards right, the tariffs in the proposal could be used to put pressure on the global CO2 prices at the IMO, and consequently contribute to creating unified, international solutions.”

Serving as an incubator

The European shipowners’ association, ECSA, said it preferred an international solution for shipping but welcomes the ‘increased climate ambition of the EU’. “We recognize that shipping should contribute its fair share to address the climate crisis, at EU level as well,” said ECSA President Claes Berglund.

Even the world’s largest shipping company based in Denmark, A.P. Moller–Maersk, supports most proposals. “The EU basket of measures should serve as an incubator to show the International Maritime Organization that significant GHG reductions are possible and do not lead to major increases in consumer prices,” CEO Søren Skou writes at LinkedIn.

Revenue-raising exercise

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), representing 80% of worldwide ship owners and ship operators via national shipowners associations, is less happy with the EU’s move. It says, “the EU overreach threatens to sink shipping’s decarbonization efforts.”

“Other than as an ideological revenue-raising exercise, which will greatly upset the EU’s trading partners, it’s difficult to see what extending the EU ETS to shipping will achieve towards reducing CO2, particularly as the proposal only covers about 7,5% of shipping’s global emissions. This could seriously put back climate negotiations for the remaining 92,5% of shipping emissions,” says Guy Platten, secretary-general of ICS.

According to the IMO, maritime transport emits around 940 million tonnes of CO₂ annually and is responsible for about 2,5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to the EU Commission, in Europe, the maritime sector is responsible for 4% of GHG emissions, compared to 3,8% for aviation and 20,4% for road traffic.

Alternative fuels

In addition, the EU will gradually introduce a fuel standard to push forward the use of alternative fuels by lower levies. But that’s something NGOs like Transport & Environment (T&E) don’t like as an instrument.

“The FuelEU Maritime proposal could lead to more than half (55%) of the energy used by ships calling at EU ports being LNG and biofuels by 2035,” T&E says in a press release. “This is despite LNG offering minimal emissions reductions and releasing methane – a global warming gas up to 36 times more potent than CO2.” It would be better to focus on hydrogen and ammonia as an alternative, says T&E.

Climate / Industry / Legislation / Product / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

UK bans sales of all ICE trucks in 2040

Tony Verhelle Posted On July 15, 2021

The British government has presented a plan to decarbonize the transport sector. It includes stopping the sale of all road vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2040. The end date for passenger cars was already set for 2030 – now, there is also a roadmap for commercial vehicles.

Last autumn, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the government would bring forward five years the ban on the sale of new ICE passenger cars, originally programmed for 2035.

Now comes the announcement that the sale of new vehicles from 3,5 to 26 tons with internal combustion engines will also be stopped by 2035. For internal combustion trucks over 26 tons, the end date is 2040 – “or earlier if a faster changeover seems possible”.

Decarbonization everywhere

The decarbonization plan now presented goes beyond road transport and also includes targets for other modes of transport. Also, by 2040, the British government envisages net-zero aviation, and rail transport is to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

“It’s about how we make sure that transport shapes the quality of life and the economy in ways that are good,” Transport Minister Grant Shapps explains.

“It’s not about stopping people doing things; it’s about doing the same things differently. So we will still fly on holiday, but by more efficient aircraft, using sustainable fuel. We will still drive, but increasingly in zero-emission cars.”

“The Transport decarbonization plan is just the start,” Shapps added, “we will need continued efforts and collaboration to deliver its ambitious commitments, which will ultimately create sustainable economic growth through healthier communities as we build back greener.”

Subsidies decrease

While the British government seems strongly committed to zero-emission transport in the future, it further restricted electric car subsidies in March.

At the moment, there’s only £2 500 instead of £3 000 per BEV available, and the price ceiling for eligible vehicles has also been adjusted. Only cars that cost a maximum of £35 000 are subsidized. Before, the limit was £50 000.

To show consistency, the British government is tightening the target of making its own fleet – around 40 000 cars and vans – emission-free. This now has to be realized by 2027, three years earlier than planned before. However, how it wants to achieve this has not yet been elaborated.

Energy / Environment / Hydrogen / Top Stories Today / Transport

Hyzon 50-ton milk truck on hydrogen on Dutch roads

Joris Van Roy Posted On July 14, 2021

Dutch dairy company FrieslandCampina has commissioned its first hydrogen-driven 50-ton milk truck on the roads in the Groningen region. Today, only there is enough hydrogen filling infrastructure to roll out H2-trucks, says FrieslandCampina. But it is looking to expand to the rest of the Netherlands too.

FrieslandCampina is running a durability program called ‘Nourishing a better planet’ and aims at becoming CO2-neutral by 2050 in production, starting with a reduction of over a third already in 2030. It started five years ago using liquid natural gas (LNG) to propel its milk trucks but now wants to take the next step with hydrogen.

The new milk truck on hydrogen is delivered by American heavy fuel cell truck developer Hyzon. The latter announced in April it is launching its leasing service in the European Union. It’s intended to be a ‘holistic fleet leasing offering’ for the European market, including the Hyzon FCEV trucks, hydrogen fuel, insurance, service, and maintenance.

Hyzon, which is to build the trucks in the Netherlands, aims to be among the first companies to offer the transport sector an alternative with hydrogen-driven heavy trucks at a total cost of ownership (TCO) equalling a diesel truck.

Joint venture

Hyzon, a spin-off from Singapore’s Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies based in Rochester, N.Y., will build the trucks in a joint venture with Holthausen Clean Technology BV. The latter is a family business that specializes in converting diesel trucks into fuel cell trucks.

Carl Holthausen and his son Max decided seven years ago to change tack and convert the traditional oil and industrial gas supplying business into ‘Clean Technology’ with ‘green’ gas and hydrogen. They even have their own ‘green hydrogen’ production set up with a 42 000 unit solar panel park, built on a former refuse dump, providing electricity for the company’s electrolyzer to make the hydrogen.

A hobby that got out of hand

The hydrogen truck business started as a hobby that got out of hand when the local authorities asked the Holthausen family to convert an old street sweeper on diesel to hydrogen. Since then, Holthausen became a local name in converting trucks and vans to FCEVs as well. Last year, the company fused with American Hyzon.

Sinds the fusion, the American-Dutch company delivers trucks in three classes, from 24 to 44 tons and beyond. The trucks themselves are bought – without the diesel engine – from classic truck manufacturers like DAF and converted to FCEV.

Powerful compact fuel cell

Today’s Hyzon fuel cells deliver up to 300 kW, to become 500 kW soon, and are among the most compact ones on the market. Making them easy to install in the space normally taken by the diesel engine. The benefit is that the converted fuel cell tractor is lighter than its diesel sibling, which results in higher load capacity.

After the fusion, the plan was to scale up production to 800 units in 2021 and 2 000 by 2023. With the New Zealand deal the company announced in February, that should be feasible. The first trucks of 1 500 for Hiringa Energy will be delivered by the end of this year.

The New Zealand hydrogen specialist builds a countrywide network of hydrogen stations and offers the trucks to clients for sale or leasing contracts. The trucks for New Zealand will be built in Winschoten (Netherlands) in a 6×4 configuration, include a sleeper cab option, and will have a Gross Combination Mass (GCM) of 58 metric tons and a range of 680 km.

Mobility / Road safety / Top Stories Today / Transport

Minister Peeters’ 37 measures traffic safety plan

Hilde Van Raemdonck Posted On July 12, 2021

The Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), has the ambition to reduce the number of traffic deaths by 25% in 2025 (from 315 to 237), 50% in 2030 (still 158), and she aims at a zero vision by 2050. The number of injured victims has to come down too.

To achieve this goal, she proposes a comprehensive Traffic Safety Plan containing 37 measures, among which conflict-free intersections becoming standard to avoid pedestrians and cyclists getting a green light at the same time as motorized traffic. The plan is based on the knowledge of traffic experts, local authorities, and local police zones.

Innovative approach

First of all, Peeters refers to the recently introduced MIA concept, in which she opts for an innovative approach to mobility (Mobiliteit Innovatief Aanpakken). With the MIA approach, the new way to tackle unsafe traffic situations, the minister wants to accelerate infrastructural investments to improve traffic safety.

Dangerous and problematic intersections, roundabouts, and approach and exit roads will be tackled more quickly. However, according to the minister, the overabundance of rules, specifications, instructions, and complex and time-consuming procedures slow down infrastructural interventions.

According to Peeters, traffic safety is definitely a priority that has to be tackled on all government levels. She will even use innovative technology – cameras, drones, automatization, and artificial intelligence – to analyze driving behavior.

Priority problems

“We know the dangerous crossings or bicycle paths, but it takes too much time before the problems are solved,” the minister says. “This not only causes irritation and frustration, in the meantime, but it also costs lives.” In the meantime, a task force has been created to gather expertise.

Minister Peeters also defined nine priority problems she wants to solve. Problems concerning accidents in which cyclists and pedestrians are involved. She wants to reduce accidents with children, seniors, and vans involved. She hopes to create a behavior change went it comes to speeding and drink-driving. And she recently launched an eye-catching campaign to improve safety and slow down the speed at road construction sites.

Energy / Environment / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport

Truck charging by pantograph on German eHighway

Joris Van Roy Posted On July 12, 2021

On Monday, the third experimental ‘eHighway’ was opened in Germany, a 3,4 km stretch on the national B 462 road between Kuppenheim and Gaggenau. Electric trucks can get their energy directly from the catenary while driving, using a pantograph on the roof.

The eHighway system was developed by German Siemens Mobility and implemented on the B 462 with the British specialist in catenary systems and conductor rails, SPL Powerlines. The idea is to power 300 km of German highways this way by 2023 and 4 000 km by 2030 to achieve a 40% CO2 reduction in transport.

Financed by the German government

Two other projects are running in the meantime. The first called ‘ELISA’ opened in March 2020 on the A5 highway between the junctions Zeppelinheim/Cargo City Süd of the Frankfurt airport and Darmstadt/Weiterstadt.

The five-kilometer catenary road was realized with the regional Hessen Mobil Road and Traffic Management. The second project was rolled out on the A1 highway between Reinfeld and the Lübeck junction. All of them are financed by the German Ministry of Environment and Nuclear Safety.

The latest project to open today in the ‘Murchtal’ valley enables testing with five e-trucks on a stretch of road with sharp bends and bridges, a challenge to equip with catenary lines. “The system installed on the Murchtal road is an important milestone to prove the operational usability of the system and to gather more experience in practice before rolling out the system on a larger scale,” says Hasso Grünjes, Head of eHighway at Siemens Mobility.

On the table in Flanders

This so-called ‘Catenary Solution’ is on the table in Flanders, Belgium too, where Siemens Mobility is involved with the Logibat project of VIL, the Flanders innovation cluster for logistics.

Logibat is meant to investigate the operational and economic conditions to make battery-electric truck transport available and what is needed to roll out a charging network country-wide both at the transport companies as on public stopping areas. Equipping major roads with catenary systems is one of the additional lines of thinking.

Energy / Environment / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport / Weekly Newsletter

Heineken to ship beer on electric barges with swappable batteries

Joris Van Roy Posted On July 8, 2021

Finally, in August, Dutch brewer Heineken will start shipping 2,5 million bottles of export beer at once packed in containers on the fully electric inland barge Alphenaar. Two ZESPack containers onboard are stuffed with batteries, delivering two megawatt-hours each. After being stuck in the Suez Canal literally, they are to arrive after a delay of several months in the Netherlands.

A newly created company called ‘Zero Emissions Services’ (ZES) offers a service of swappable battery containers for fully electric inland barges. Those containers can be swapped at the destination for a charged one instantly or be charged with a one-megawatt supercharger in about 2,5 hours. Heineken was the first client to sign a 10-year contract.

The first tangible realization of the open-access loading points network will be the axes Zoeterwoude via the inland shipping terminal Alpherium to Moerdijk. The goal is to transport the export beer from the Heineken brewery to the international ports.

Stuck in the Suez Canal

Heineken also contributes to the development costs of the Alphenaar and five other ships – purposely adapted to the brewer’s needs – and operated by its inland shipping partner CCT. The ship was ready in time, only missing the ZESPack containers with the batteries coming from China.

Being part of the load of the giant container ship Ever Given that blocked the Suez Canal in March and that was released by the Egyptian authorities only days ago, they are expected to be delivered soon. Heineken expects to start shipping its beer ‘electrically’ in August.

ZES is a joint €20 million investment of four very different partners – Dutch bank ING, energy-supplier Engie, the Port of Rotterdam Authority, and Finish maritime tech company Wärtsilä – supported by the Dutch government. They took the first step in developing a network of ‘ZESPack’ container battery stations starting on the axis Zoeterwoude-Moerdijk and the axis Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp next.

Capacity of 2 000 kWh

The basic idea is to offer skippers of inland barges willing to convert from diesel to electric a ‘pay per use’-based financing model where they only rent the ZESPack energy containers and pay for the green electricity used. Buying the ZESPack battery container, still costing about a million euros today, is out of the financial reach of the skippers of mostly family-owned inland barges.

The ZESPack container, developed with Wärtsilä, has a capacity of 2 000 kWh. To compare: Tesla’s most powerful electric car batteries are 100 kWh. With two of these ZESPacks lifted on board at the energy station, a typical inland barge can sail a distance of 50 to 100 km.

With several ZES energy stations along the major inland shipping axes, skippers can simply swap empty battery containers for fully charged ones, taking only minimal time. Today these ZES swapping stations aren’t operational yet, hence why the Alphenaar is carrying two ZESPacks, using one on the journey out, the other on the journey back. The next step will be a swapping station and supercharger in Moerdijk, the destination.

Fire-safe

ZES ensures the container being “fire-safe thanks to insulation and the fact that it is equipped with fire extinguishing and safety systems”. When stored onshore, they can be used as backup batteries for balancing the electricity grid.

After a ten-year ‘guaranteed’ usage period, they are expected to have lost no more than 20% of their capacity, making them still suitable as an electricity backup solution. In the end, all materials can be recycled, the company claims.

Electrifying the inland shipping fleet

This way, the battery containers reduce more CO2 emissions than it did cost to manufacture them initially. The energy-container concept allows ZES to switch to other future energy solutions, like fuel cells and hydrogen, if the latter becomes cheaper in the future.

The Dutch inland shipping sector is the biggest in Europe, with some 6 500 ships sailing. Electrifying the whole fleet will be a major challenge. Two-thirds are owned by families, and ships are often old. They’ll all have to cope with the question of which technology will be the best to invest in. The concept of swappable battery containers makes the latter more attractive.

Climate / Energy / Environment / Mobility / Top Stories Today / Transport

T&E: ‘MSC shipping company ranks among Europe’s top CO2 polluters’

Hilde Van Raemdonck Posted On July 6, 2021

Although MSC – the Mediterranean Shipping Company – claims its fleet is young, modern, and environmentally friendly, the company has climbed to sixth place in the ranking of Europe’s top CO2 polluters. Alarming is that the shipping operator has overtaken the pollution of coal plants in Poland and Germany.

“MSC promotes cleaner seas, land, and cargo through massive investments in low-carbon technology, energy efficiency, and operational efficiency. Our company operates one of the youngest fleets in the world, with modern, efficient, and environmentally friendly vessels,” MSC’s website says.

Business as usual

Transport & Environment (T&E) says the EU must clean up the industry by making shippers pay for all their pollution and start using green fuels on European routes.

Jacob Armstrong, sustainable shipping officer at T&E: “For the third year running, the biggest shipping emitter has climbed the top 10 of Europe’s largest polluters. It’s emblematic of an industry that doesn’t pay a cent for its pollution. That a ship operator is overtaking coal plants shows that business as usual isn’t working. We need an EU carbon market that makes shipping pay for all its pollution.”

MSC Shipping holds according to T&E a not-so-enviable rank of sixth among Europe’s heaviest CO2 polluters. All others are coal-burning power plants with six of the ten located in Germany and three of them in Poland..

Pollution permits

The vast majority of the five biggest shipping companies’ pollution, ranging from 65% to 79%, was on voyages between European and non-European ports. The five companies are MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, COSCO Group, and Hapag-Lloyd, as shown in another graph from T&E.

Later this month, the European Commission will announce whether companies should start buying pollution permits and using green fuels for these extra-European routes, which account for most of the European shipping’s climate impact.

Sustainable fuel

On July 14th, the Commission is expected to publish proposals to include European shipping in the EU carbon market and establish the world’s first sustainable fuels mandate for ships (Fuel EU Maritime Regulation).

Energy / Environment / Europe / Top Stories Today / Transport

European truck makers jointly to roll out 1 700 fast-chargers

Joris Van Roy Posted On July 6, 2021

The world’s three major truck manufacturers, Daimler Truck, Traton Group, and Volvo Group, are setting up a joint venture and put half a billion euros on the table to roll out 1 700 fast-charging points for electric long-haul trucks across Europe.

The joint venture, based in Amsterdam, will be owned equally by the three parties and should start operations in 2022, aiming at reaching the target within the next five years. Other partners are invited to join.

The JV that should be signed by the end of the year will be comparable with what several European carmakers and Hyundai are doing with Ionity, the fast-charging network for electric cars across Europe, and be open for all brands.

Common e-platform as the arena

In a joint press release, the CEOs of the truck makers shout from the rooftops that they will remain ‘fierce competitors’ on the truck market but need a new common ‘electric’ platform as their arena.

“The joint action of Volvo Group, Daimler Truck, and the Traton Group addresses the urgent need for a high-performance charging network to support truck operators with their transition to CO2-neutral transport solutions, especially in heavy-duty long-distance trucking,” they say. “High-performance charging infrastructure enabling long-haul trucking is a cost-efficient way toward significant, fast-to-realize emission reductions.”

Necessary foundation

“It is vital that building up the right infrastructure goes hand in hand with putting CO2-neutral trucks on the road,” Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler Truck, says.

And Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO of Volvo Group, adds, “We are laying the necessary foundation in making a breakthrough for our customers to transform electrification by creating a European charging network leader. We have powerful electromobility technologies, and now, with Daimler Truck, the Traton Group, and thanks to the European Green Deal, also an industry-wide understanding as well as a political environment to make fundamental progress toward sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions.”

Engagement of the EU?

But they expect the EU to play a role in further expanding the infrastructure. “We now make the first step to accelerate the transition toward sustainable, fossil-free transport. The second step should be a strong engagement of the EU for the full scale-up of a charging network across Europe,” says Matthias Gründler, CEO of Traton Group.

Even with 1 700 high-performance chargers for e-trucks in the next five years, this will be just a drop in the ocean.

In April, the European car and truck manufacturers federation ACEA and NGO Transport & Environment warned in a joint letter to the EU Commission for three to six times more zero-emission trucks to hit the road by 2030 than the 80 000 assumed so far by the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.

11 000 chargers needed by 2025

To accommodate this fleet, both organizations plead for stringent standards for all member states by the EU to have a network of at least 11 000 heavy EV truck chargers and 300 hydrogen filling stations by 2025. By 2030, this should be 42 000 public heavy-duty chargers and 1 000 H2-filling stations at least.

In an annex to the letter, ACEA and T&E advise member state targets to be set for this. For Belgium, this would mean 300 of these chargers by 2025 and 1 100 by 2030. For the Netherlands, this would be 900 and 3 400 respectively, France 1 500 and 5 800, Germany 3 750 and 14 350.

50 000 by 2030

Now the three truck makers thicken the figures, even more, saying 15 000 fast-chargers for trucks will be needed by 2025 and 50 000 by 2030.

They emphasize that the “kick-start of the partners is a call for action to all other industry players, as well as governments and regulators, to work together for a rapid expansion of the necessary charging network.”

Together, these three truck makers deliver the bulk of the trucks on European and American roads. Daimler Trucks, which is to go independent from the Daimler Group by the end of the year, commercializes the brands Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Western Star, Fuso, Sterling Trucks, BharatBenz, and Unimog.

Volkswagens’ Traton Group comes in second with MAN, Scania, and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. Volvo Group represents Volvo Trucks, Renault Trucks, Mack, Eicher, and UD Trucks.

Energy / Environment / Technology / Top Stories Today / Transport

Production-ready Mercedes-Benz eActros offers 400 km range

Joris Van Roy Posted On June 30, 2021

Mercedes-Benz Trucks has launched on Wednesday, 30 June, its final version of the electric eActros, “with range, drive power and safety considerably improved in the series-production model.” While clients in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands tested with a version capable of 200 km, that range is doubled to 400 km with an optional 420 kWh battery pack.

The eActros can be charged at up to 160 kW, meaning the battery packs can be charged from 20 to 80% in ‘a little longer than one hour’ at a 400A DC charger the truck maker says. Production will start in autumn 2021 at Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ largest truck assembly plant in Wörth am Rhein.

In an initial phase, the series-production model of the eActros will be available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Further markets will follow, the press release mentions.

Two electromotors

The full-electric version is built on the chassis of the regular Mercedes Actros truck. It has two electromotors on the rear axle’s wheels, each delivering 126 kW (171 hp) and a maximum torque of 485 Nm. Initially, for the client tests, a lithium-ion battery pack of 240 kWh was mounted that could be charged – dependent on the available charging infrastructure – within three hours at 80 kW.

Mercedes Trucks says that one of the most significant findings of the first test series is that the eActros, with its 200 km range, “has proven to be realistic – regardless of load, route, or topography.” But with the final production model, transport companies have the option of a 420 kWh pack (four packs of 105 kWh), offering double of that range in optimal circumstances.

20 customers testing

During the ‘customer co-creation’ phase, almost 20 test customers used an eActros instead of a conventional truck in their fleets, the press release states. “In both the 18-ton and 25-ton versions, the eActros fulfilled various challenging tasks in a variety of sectors.”

“Among other things, it transported chilled goods in an electrically-powered refrigerated box body to supermarket branches, served as a plant vehicle to supply components for production, handled the replacement of waste containers, and used a tank body to carry fly ash for the production of concrete.”

Van Mieghem Logistics, based in Saintes (Tubize), was the first to test the eActros on Belgian roads. The Belgian distributor used the eActros on delivery trips within a 200 km radius, supplying pharmaceutical products to hospitals and homes for the elderly.

This 25-ton eActros had a refrigerated W.KO COOL exchangeable body from Schmitz Cargobull. The cargo’s cooling unit is – like the air conditioning – fully electric, too, and completely emission-free.

Energy / Industry / Mobility / Product / Top Stories Today / Transport

ACM Adaptive shows City One, a simple, modular BEV for the city

Tony Verhelle Posted On June 30, 2021

ACM Adaptive City Mobility GmbH, a starting German manufacturer, shows the series version of its modular electric vehicle and the associated ecosystem created with funding from the German government.

The ACM City One can be converted into two simple steps to carry up to four passengers besides the driver or loads of up to 1 450 liters in volume (on a Euro pallet if desired). Furthermore, ACM points out that the electric vehicle can transport commuters during rush hour and then distribute goods in the city as a van, optimally using city space.

The aim is to deploy the ACM City One in an ecosystem of vehicle users, fleet operators, service providers, energy suppliers, insurers, and advertising partners to create affordable and sustainable mobility and logistics solutions worldwide.

Modular

The City One has a modular design, and the small vehicle (3,6 m) can reach speeds of up to 110 kph. In addition, a battery swapping system combined with intelligent home charging makes this battery-electric vehicle (BEV) very versatile in use.

The little van is particularly suitable for ride-hailing and shared mobility fleets, supported by integrating the fleets into a B2B pool sharing platform that optimizes vehicle utilization and ensures round-the-clock energy supply for the operators.

Small, light, and simple

The model positions ACM in a niche – namely that for small, light, and, therefore, simple and affordable city EVs that can be operated with low voltage due to their low weight.

“This means that they require little power and small, affordable batteries with a maximum of 20 kWh,” says Paul Leibold, founder, and CEO of ACM. “It means that these vehicles can be charged in a maximum of seven hours using the existing Schuko plug infrastructure – without any fast-charger – which saves a huge amount of money.”

“In addition, as a range extender, four small batteries can be swapped out manually anywhere,” he adds. Through the intelligent networking of an entire fleet, it would then be possible to ensure the supply of the electric fleet within the urban area through rechargeable batteries or the Schuko plug, which is exactly what fleet operators urgently need.

Digital platform

ACM foresees that each vehicle in the fleet will be connected to a digital platform that will use data-based services to help optimize the fleet’s potential. In creating this platform, the company is cooperating with the digitalization experts of the Porsche subsidiary MHP. The aim is to avoid empty runs and massively increase utilization.

Dr. Markus Kirchler, Partner and Member of the MHP Board of Management, is pleased: “Innovative and sustainable e-mobility is crucial for us and coming generations. Following MHP’s purpose ‘Enabling a Better Tomorrow’, we are proud to be a partner of ACM, providing our digital competence to make climate-friendly transportation excellent.”

Neumann on board

ACM has also announced that it has hired Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann as an advisor. The former Opel CEO is an investor in ACM and is now expected to provide support in building the overall business model and fundraising.

Neumann was CEO of Opel from 2013 to 2017, and before joining Opel, Neumann held the position of CEO and Vice President of Volkswagen Group China. “At some point, you reach a stage in vehicle development and production where it doesn’t get any cheaper, no matter how much extra effort you put in,” Neumann states.

“The total cost of ownership (TCO) can only be further reduced for fleet operators and thus ultimately for the end customer if additional services and new revenue streams are developed. ACM achieves this by intelligently connecting the EV vehicle fleet,” he concludes.

Climate / Environment / Mobility / Top Stories Today / Transport

Former Ford site to become ‘Logistics Valley Flanders’

Hilde Van Raemdonck Posted On June 29, 2021

On Monday, three Limburg Ministers of the Flemish government – Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), Zuhal Demir (N-VA), and Wouter Beke (CD&V) – have fired the starting signal for the reorganization of the former Ford site in Genk. The conversion of the former Ford site now will be called ‘Logistics Valley Flanders’.

The shutdown of the former car production site was a heavy blow for Genk and the entire Limburg region. Now the former Ford site will be transformed into a new, trimodal industrial zone with an international appearance. The ambitious goal is to create 2 500 to 3 000 new jobs. The redevelopment of the site will be a boost for the region and will have a positive impact on employment.

Utility infrastructure

The Flemish Waterway (Vlaamse Waterweg, VW) is appointed as developer and client for the demolition works, sanitation works, and the construction of common utility infrastructure. Meanwhile, most of the works are already executed.

The public domain will get access roads for motorized traffic and cyclists and will be provided with sewerage, utility lines, parking places for employees, a private connection road between the transshipment center along the channel and the area in the back. There will be infiltration basins to store rainwater, green areas, and public lighting.

Strong assets

Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld): “The global cost for the redevelopment of the former Ford site is 74,4 million euros and is mainly financed by Flanders.” Genk Mayor Wim Dries is proud of the project. “Genk and Limburg have strong assets and this site will even strengthen them. This redevelopment opens a bright future for employment in the region.”

“Together with all private and public partners, we realize a state-of-the-art industrial zone,” says Chris Danckaers of VW. A trimodal area with common utility infrastructure, bicycle infrastructure, and green open space.”

Container handling

The new quay that will be built will be 425 m long and will be provided with a gantry crane for container handling. Construction works will start this summer. VW will sign an agreement for it with concessionaire Port of Limburg.

“The Flemish government will commit itself for sustainable mobility, and the potential of our waterways is a trump card we want to play,” says Minister Peeters. “Inland shipping helps us in our fight against climate change and waterways are perfectly suited for mobility and environmentally-friendly freight transport. Thanks to the new quay infrastructure, entrepreneurs can transport their goods over the water.”

“We strongly believe in the importance and potential of our waterways,” adds Frieda Brepoels, president of the Flemish Waterway. “Thanks to the future quay wall, we can unlock this site and get many trucks off the Limburg roads.”

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