February 13, 2023
Dutch Fastned has opened last week its 19th fast-charging station in Belgium, located just outside the Antwerp Metropole on the E19 toward Brussels, at the park & ride at Exit 7 in Kontich. The station features eight 300 kW chargers for charging up to 300 km range in fifteen minutes if circumstaThis content has been […]
February 10, 2023
While the EU Commission is preparing a draft on future emission standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses (HDVs), the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has published in a white paper its findings comparing life assessment greenhouse gas emissions of diesel, gas, bio-fuel, battery-This content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to a level […]
February 09, 2023
Two years after starting the program in June 2020, navigation aid specialist Coyote says it has registered an apparent change in the behavior of its drivers after identifying more than 22 000 dangerous bends on Belgian roads. The navigation aid system warns when you are approaching a dangerous curveThis content has been archived. Log in […]
February 08, 2023
A new Pathway Report by international consultancy firm Kearney, jointly ordered by electric carmakers Polestar and Rivian, warns that without measures to decarbonize the whole well-to-wheel cycle, carmakers globally will overshoot the +1,5°C climate warming limit set by the IPCC by 75% in 2050. This content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to a […]
February 06, 2023
Lucien, the bicycle shop chain under the wings of Belgian’s most significant car importer D’Ieteren, is expanding from ten to fourteen shops in Brussels and Antwerp with the recent acquisition of Alpha Bikes (Lasne, Uccle, Woluwe Saint Lambert, and Cyclo Europe (Evere). The rapid scale-up and conThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe […]
February 03, 2023
Chinese electric carmaker NIO has delivered the first three EL7 models, the SUV variant of its ET7 flagship sedan, in Europe to Dutch customers. All three chose the brand’s subscription formula as an alternative to leasing or buying. That includes battery swapping services (BaaS), a first in Europe.This content has been archived. Log in or […]
February 01, 2023
The battery electric car (BEV) has grown its market share in new car registrations in 2022 with 3% to 12,1% overall. Still, range anxiety apparently drives more Europeans to a classic hybrid (22,6%) instead of electric to replace diesel and gasoline cars. Together, the latter still represent 52,8% oThis content has been archived. Log in […]
February 01, 2023
The jostle in job positions at Stellantis Belux continues, as Florian Kraft (39), the Director of Sales & Operations at Peugeot Germany, is taking the wheel as CEO to replace Stephane Levi. Levi, who held the position since March 2021 after being CEO of PSA Belux, is ‘moving on’ within StellantiThis content has been archived. […]
January 31, 2023
Didier Blokland, until December 2022 Marketing Director for Peugeot at Stellantis Belux and active at Peugeot Belgium for 21 years, is the new Director of Communications, PR & Events of the Belgian importer of the French-Italian-US car brands. He succeeds Dominique Fontignies, who left the compaThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to […]
January 27, 2023
French automaker Renault has teamed up with compatriot R-FIT to offer, in 2023, electric retrofit kits for its iconic R4, R5, and later also for the first generation of the Twingo. A complete retrofit kit for the Renault 4 costs €11 900, VAT, and installation included. And the government is willinThis content has been archived. […]
January 26, 2023
Munich-based Sono Motors, creators of the Sion solar car, is buying more time to survive by extending its #savesion campaign until the end of February 2023. “As talks with potential investors are in progress”, the founders announce in a press release and a video. So far, they have managed to secuThis content has been archived. […]
January 26, 2023
By the end of this year, buses and trams of the Belgian public transport company TEC in Wallonia will automatically get a green light when approaching a traffic light at an intersection. This will reduce travel times, causing fewer delays, and as another positive result, allow for fewer emissions ifThis content has been archived. Log […]
January 25, 2023
On Tuesday, the Colruyt Clevon delivery robot, on test since November last year, has delivered for the first time groceries to a client, 26-year-old Ellen Cools, who lives on the trajectory between the distribution center and the Collect & Go pickup point in Londerzeel. Colruyt has found thirThis content has been archived. Log in or […]
January 25, 2023
German multinational energy company RWE is building two new plants in the Maastricht-Roermond region in the Netherlands, to produce 54 000 tons of green hydrogen yearly out of 700 000 tons of municipal solid waste that otherwise would have to be incinerated. Hydrogen from non-recyclable solid wasThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe […]
January 25, 2023
Poppy Mobility, the car, e-scooter, and e-bike sharing daughter of D’Ieteren Automotive, is going to triple its fleet of shared cars from 1 000 to 3 000 in the next months to comply with the growing demand of about 200 000 users, the company announces. Soaring costs of living, the growing part ofThis content has […]
January 24, 2023
If we can rely on what battery manufacturers are predicting for the next four years, Europe can be self-sufficient in lithium-ion battery cells for its domestic EV production as soon as 2027, and end its reliance on China. That’s the conclusion of NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) after analThis content has been archived. Log in […]
January 23, 2023
ElectroMobility Poland (EMP), Poland’s only car manufacturer created in 2016, has postponed the production of its first car under the new Izera brand for the second time until the end of 2025. The state-owned company, which made a technology deal in November 2022 with Chinese Geely for the underpinnThis content has been archived. Log in […]
January 20, 2023
Belgian start-up Veton wants to conquer the world and a growing number of EV owners from its base in Antwerp by wrapping the classic EV-charge pole or wallbox in a sleek, fashionable design with the cable neatly hidden when not in use. As 85% of EV charging is done at home or work, the young […]
January 19, 2023
Chinese SAIC daughter MG, the self-appointed heir to Brittain’s iconic sports car brand, has launched into hydrogen, showing the Euniq 7 FCEV at Auto Expo 2023 in Dehli, India. The 5,2-meter long MPV offering seating for seven and a range of 605 km (NEDC) is said to be a demonstration vehicle, as noThis content has […]
January 19, 2023
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted the Belgian Punch Group a €40 million finance contract for further developing hydrogen propulsion systems, like fuel cells and the H2 burning engine, as an environmentally friendly successor for the diesel engine. The investments will be made mainlThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to a […]
January 18, 2023
Britishvolt, the UK’s hope of constructing a 30 GWh Gigafactory in Blyth, in the northeast of England, is going belly-up as attempts to find last-minute investors failed. The startup collapsed into administration on Tuesday, and most of the 232 employees were made redundant immediately. BritishvoThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to a […]
January 17, 2023
If there is one sector for which the corona pandemic was a blessing, it is the recreational vehicle (RV) sector. After the first lockdown in 2020, demand skyrocketed in 2021, with a peak in Belgium never seen before. But with 2022 and the Ukraine war, uncertainty and inflation pushed private individThis content has been archived. […]
January 17, 2023
After Colruyt started experimenting with an Estonian delivery robot in November, French supermarket chain Carrefour is setting up a pilot in the business park Corporate Village in Zaventem near Brussels with a Turkish-branded autonomous robot. After the first test panel of twenty people, everybodThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to a level […]
January 13, 2023
Astara Western Europe, the former Belgian Alcomotive group and importer of Hyundai, Suzuki, MG, SsangYong, and Maxus, also becomes the BeLux distributor for the Spanish Silence scooters and micro-mobility EV, the so-called ‘nanocars’. The latter share an interesting ‘swapping battery’ technology. This content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to a level that has […]
January 13, 2023
According to internal sources quoted by the German Handelsblatt, Mercedes-Benz intends to drop its EQ-label it uses to differentiate its electric models from regular ICE cars. As the premium brand plans to go full electric by the end of the decade, it might start doctoring with the labels from 2024 This content has been archived. […]
January 13, 2023
Nissan has brought its Ariya Single Seater Concept to the Brussels Motor Show, an ‘electric racecar’ conceived as a “high-performance exploration, development, and demonstration project”. It is in fact the dual motor all-wheel drive of Nissan’s second BEV, the Ariya crossover, squeezed into a FormulThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to a […]
January 12, 2023
Volvo Car Gent, the Belgian production site pioneering the electric models of the XC40 and the C40 Recharge, is readying the factory to gear up production of fully electric cars (BEVs) to 150 000, compared to just over 70 000 last year. In 2040, this should be 200 000 in an utterly carbon-neutral plThis content […]
January 10, 2023
German carmaker Mercedes-Benz is the first to get official approval for SAE Level 3 autonomous driving in the US, with Nevada taking the lead and California following, most likely soon. The latter was confirmed by the carmaker at CES in Las Vegas last week. It’s the first manufacturer to accomplish This content has been archived. […]
January 10, 2023
An electric vehicle replacing one with a classic combustion engine (ICE) can spare a European company today on average €3 599 and 5 560 liters of fuel per year per vehicle. That represents a reduction of 15 tons of CO2 per vehicle, a new report based on telematics data from Webfleet shows. WebfThis content has […]
January 10, 2023
Sony Honda Mobility Inc. (SHM) is planning to launch as soon as possible two other models besides the sedan – an SUV and probably an MPV – under the new Afeela EV brand, announced at CES in Las Vegas last week. It would make no sense to limit the brand to one model for the […]
January 09, 2023
VW’s design and engineering studio Italdesign has explored the boundaries of autonomous shuttles roaming around future cities. It envisioned, together with Swiss Schindler integrating them into buildings as an elevator capsule. The Climb-E can pick you up on the 30th floor of your apartment buildingThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to a […]
January 05, 2023
Hours before the official ‘unveiling’ of the first teaser pictures of its second solar car at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Dutch scale-up opened on Thursday the waiting list for the Lightyear 2. This one, a more compact ‘grid-independent’ sedan with integrated solar panels and This content has been archived. Log in […]
January 04, 2023
At the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas, French automotive supplier Plastic Omnium and French deep-tech startup Greenwave are showing a revolutionary way of integrating radar sensors into the entire surface of the car’s bumpers to catch a high-resolution image of its surroundings. The This content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to […]
January 03, 2023
Talking about EV incentives, this one from the African country Uganda fires one’s imagination: President Museveni announced in his end-of-the-year address he made a deal with investors to swap all motorcycles with internal combustion engines (ICE) in the country for locally-produced electric ones foThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to a level […]
December 30, 2022
The United States is leaving an opening for foreign carmakers to benefit from EV tax credits of up to $7 500 under the Inflation Reduction Act. According to the Bloomberg news agency, The US Treasury Department signals in its Frequently Asked Questions list a commercial-vehicle clause in the law thaThis content has been archived. Log […]
December 30, 2022
Europe is well on its way to undercutting by at least three grams the CO2 emission targets of 116 g/km set by the EU for new car registrations in 2022, according to German automotive data analyst Dataforce’s forecast. It is an improvement of six grams compared to the year before (119 g/km). EventualThis content has […]
December 29, 2022
You won’t be stared at for its modern but not unique looks when driving by, as this family hatchback – MG’s latest EV washing ashore in Europe – could be one in a thousand. Unless you chose that ‘Fizzy Orange’ color. Driving the basic version for the first time on Belgian roads, this MG4 proves […]
December 28, 2022
The world’s largest EV battery supplier with a market share of 33% in 2022, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), has kicked off serial production at its new lithium-ion battery cell plant in Thuringia, Germany. It’s the first battery factory of CATL operational outside of China, wiThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe […]
December 28, 2022
Going silently and electric until your final destination is now possible in a Dutch-built Tesla 3 hearse, a European first for this smaller Tesla, as Derks Autogroup in the Netherlands shows. The hearse is based on a Model 3 Standard Range Plus and gets a 100% composite, lightweight body with a tailThis content has been […]
December 28, 2022
Along with introducing two new flagship SUVs, the third generation of battery-swapping stations was shown at the NIO Day 2022 event in Hefei, China. These stations can hold up to 21 charged battery packs (up from 13) and perform 408 swaps a day (+30%), as it now only takes two and a half minutes to […]
December 27, 2022
Chinese premium electric carmaker NIO has launched two new flagship SUV models – a Coupe-SUV EC7 and a new version of the bigger six-seat ES8 – at its traditional NIO Days event in Hefei, Anhui province, where the company builds its cars in two factories. It claims the EC7 has the industry’s loweThis content has […]
December 23, 2022
Wallonia lets go of the tight deadline for its regional low-emission zone (LEZ) that was to become active on January 1st, 2023, and postpones the ban on Euro 0 and Euro I cars for two years until 2025, together with the Euro 3 cars. This means a stay of execution for 6 200 of the […]
December 22, 2022
Belgian fuel station chain Gabriëls has opened in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw at the Bergensesteenweg, the second ultra-fast charger of thirty planned to be rolled out in the Flemish region by 2026. Like the first one opened in Deurne at the Bisschoppenhoflaan, the station offers, besides traditional fueThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to a […]
December 22, 2022
American premium electric carmaker Lucid opened its first retail and delivery center in Europe in Hilversum near Amsterdam, the Netherlands, last week. Now Lucid says delivery of the limited series of the Lucid Air Dream Edition to selected clients in Germany and the Netherlands has started. The This content has been archived. Log in or […]
December 19, 2022
Mercedes-Benz has signed a letter of intent with Norwegian aluminum producer Hydro to significantly reduce the CO₂ footprint of aluminum in the automotive supply chain. A fully electric Mercedes luxury car can contain up to 700 kg of aluminum. From 2023, this metal delivered by the Norwegians fThis content has been archived. Log in or […]
December 16, 2022
What turned out to be a significant trend in 2021 is now reconfirmed for 2022: electric cars are in nearly every segment and almost every European country at the same price level or cheaper than gasoline or diesel cars when considering the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). LeasePlan did the math agaThis content has been […]
December 15, 2022
Audi’s Belgian factory, which pioneered the EV production of the brand with the e-tron, of which 160 000 were shipped worldwide, delivered on Wednesday the first of its successor, now baptized Q8 e-tron. In the meantime, the Brussels factory is preparing to start building the smaller Q4 e-tron toThis content has been archived. Log in […]
December 14, 2022
Volvo’s electric sister brand, Polestar, is launching a second edition of the electric CAKE Makka moped via its Polestar Additions webshop in selected countries. The first limited edition developed with the Swedish manufacturer of light electric motorcycles, painted in Polestar’s Snow Matte color, wThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to a level […]
December 14, 2022
Chinese electric carmaker NIO has opened a second battery swapping station in the Netherlands in Apeldoorn, near the 50 highway at the Hotel Van der Valk Exclusief parking. The first one opened two weeks ago in Tilburg near the Belgian border. NIO wants to roll out a network of 120 Power Swap StaThis content has […]
December 13, 2022
Mobilize Financial Services (MFS), a subsidiary of the Renault Group (ex-RCI Banque), is throwing itself further into the market of long-term rental and created Mobilize Lease&Co for all the Alliance brands, Renault, Dacia, Alpine, and Nissan. The goal is to expand the lease fleet from 350 00This content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe […]
December 12, 2022
The Flemish Finance Minister Mathias Diependaele (N-VA) was brooding on it for a long time. Now the Flemish government has taken the plunge: gas-guzzling pickups will no longer benefit from ridiculously low taxes from January 1st, 2023. At least, this will apply to privately used pickups, not to This content has been archived. Log in […]
December 09, 2022
“We failed,” say Jona Christians and his friend Laurin Hahn, the co-founders and CEOs of German Sono Motors, who laid the foundation for the company’s first vehicle, the Sion solar car, in a garage in Munich in 2016. In a remarkable campaign, they call up to at least 3 500 of the 21 000 holderThis […]
December 09, 2022
The compact Atto 3 full-electric SUV, just launched on the European markets by China’s biggest EV maker, BYD, was elected by both the professional and the family jury ‘Family Car of the Year’ in the yearly contest by the Flemish mobility organization VAB. With a total of 63 points, the Atto 3 preThis content has […]
December 09, 2022
As of 1 January 2023, the current CEO of Renault, Luca de Meo, will take over the presidency of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) from BMW’s CEO, Oliver Zipse, who has held the position for the last two years. The Board of Directors announced that on Friday. Once renewThis content has been archived. Log […]
December 09, 2022
From January 2024, BMW will roll out the much-debated direct sales ‘agency model’ starting for its MINI customers, followed by the BMW brand itself in 2026. Customers will buy their new car online and have a dealer of their choice deliver it, the latter getting a ‘fair’ share of the profit. No moThis content has […]
December 08, 2022
A business coalition of 45 companies is calling upon the EU Commission in an open letter to ensure all new freight trucks are zero-emission from 2035. With exceptions until 2040 for so-called ‘vocational trucks’ in niches like construction, mining, and timber industry having specific driving patternThis content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe to […]
December 07, 2022
Commercial Vehicle Charging Europe, the joint venture formed in July 2022 by the Volvo Group, Daimler Truck, and Traton Group, announced on Monday that it begins operating its fast-charging network for heavy trucks, buses, and coaches under the brand name Milence. Milence will initially focus on This content has been archived. Log in or Subscribe […]
December 06, 2022
Chinese MG finally has a price tag in Belgium, starting at €30 785 for the Standard version with a 51 kWh battery, 125 kW (170 pk), and a WLTP range of 350 km. The Comfort version with 64 KWh battery and 150 kW (204 pk ) getting you 450 km far is listed at € […]
December 06, 2022
European aircraft giant Airbus believes in hydrogen to propel aviation in the future. It solemnly pledged to have an H2 airplane commercially ready by 2035. The hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine showed last week could be the ideal solution for planes for mid-haul flights with up to 100 passengers anThis content has been archived. Log in […]
December 05, 2022
Car sales in Belgium are getting back on their feet steadily, as registrations are up again in November by +23,4%, according to the latest figures of Febiac, the Belgian car importers federation. And among them, BMW can set up a party, as it leads the rankings both in car sales and motorbike sales, This content […]
