March 20, 2024
Renault Group CEO (and current ACEA President) Luca de Meo has addressed a ‘Letter to Europe‘ to “all key decision-makers and stakeholders across Europe”. It’s an “Advocacy for a sustainable, inclusive, and competitive automotive industry.” With just a few months to go before the European elections, this twenty-page document calls for European mobilization “to succeed […]
March 19, 2024
Brussels Airport accounts for 5.41 billion in added value and more than 64,000 jobs. According to a study on the economic impact commissioned by Zaventem Airport, the Universities UAntwerpen and UCLouvain presented these results on Monday. Meanwhile, management and unions at Brussels Airlines also reached an agreement on Monday regarding better pay for cabin crew. […]
March 18, 2024
The European Parliament voted last week for the revision of the European Weights and Dimensions Directive, which would allow 44-ton combinations to cross the borders of member states more easily. This would increase efficiency and lower emissions per cargo unit, but it might also give diesel trucks a more significant advantage. The door has also […]
March 14, 2024
Belgian organic farmer Hugues Falys is taking TotalEnergies to court over the French oil company’s role in climate change. This is the first climate case against a multinational in Belgium. Several human rights and environmental organizations support the case, including Greenpeace and the International Federation for Human Rights. “The climate crisis has a huge impact […]
March 14, 2024
Walloon Environment Minister, Céline Tellier (Ecolo), has declared that the plan for Wallonia to become a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) was “disproportionate, difficult to apply and not very effective.” The Walloon LEZ is now axed, but major cities will be able to introduce restrictions to enhance air quality, not only on vehicles. Introduced in 2019, […]
March 13, 2024
According to Vias’ latest traffic safety barometer, based on figures from the federal police, there were 7% fewer road deaths last year than in 2022. Last year, 483 people died in traffic, compared to 520 in 2022. The Vias Institute is a Belgian knowledge center that aims to improve road safety, mobility, and social safety. […]
March 08, 2024
People often say that women are lousy drivers, but statistics show just the opposite: almost eight in ten road deaths are men. Women are less likely to be involved in serious accidents than men and are generally also less likely to be severely injured in accidents (40% compared to 60% of men). However, it is […]
March 06, 2024
According to a document published on Tuesday and cited by the Reuters news agency, the EU Commission says it has sufficient evidence ‘tending’ to show Chinese EVs were being subsidized, and it will start ‘customs registrations’ on Thursday to prepare for possible retroactive tariffs. That means that import tariffs could be imposed retrospectively if the […]
March 01, 2024
The European Parliament has agreed on a new set of regulations concerning driver’s licenses. One of the plans is to increase the weight limit of electric light commercial vehicles to 4.25 tons to compensate for the loss of payload due to heavy battery packs. But new exam rules, digital licenses, and stricter rules for young […]
February 29, 2024
The European Parliament rejects limiting the validity period of driving licenses for older drivers. Earlier, European Mobility Ministers also agreed that there would be no specific validity restriction on driving licenses for the over-70s. The legislation, which also introduces a digital driving license on smartphones, has yet to be negotiated with members; it emerged on […]
February 29, 2024
Last year, Flanders issued 19 million euros of fines for truck drivers who did not comply with the rules on kilometer tax. That is a record since the system was introduced in 2016. Most of the fines – almost 80 percent – were intended for foreign trucks. The Netherlands, Poland, and Spain, in particular, took […]
February 29, 2024
The Italian government has approached the booming Chinese car manufacturer BYD to build a car plant in the country and confirmed having contact with Tesla and other carmakers. The Meloni government wants to halt the monopoly of Stellantis in that field and has contacted several other manufacturers to come and produce in Italy. “Several carmakers […]
February 26, 2024
At the Geneva Motor Show, Swiss-Italian electric micro-carmaker Microlino unveiled the ‘Lite’ or L6e version of the Microlina L7e, which is the fully electric lightweight quadricycle. This one has a limited maximum speed of 45 km/hour, half of its older brother, with a basic range of approximately 100 km that can be extended up to […]
February 23, 2024
Since the ‘premium window for EVs’ in Flanders opened on 12 February, 3,073 premium applications have been made. Some 2,600 applications were made for new cars, 440 for second-hand cars, 100 for car-sharing, and 40 for vehicles for non-profit organizations. Multiplied by the premium amounts, this amounts to around 15 million euros. Mobility Minister Lydia […]
February 22, 2024
The German Traffic Authority KBA (Kraftfahrt Bundesamt) has discovered that the emissions of toxic gases by some BMW diesel cars have been manipulated by illegal software. According to BMW, 33,000 X3 cars from 2014 or earlier are probably concerned in Germany alone; estimates for the EU are 100,000 to 150,000 in total. BMW says it […]
February 21, 2024
Traffic Safety Institute Vias pleads for the introduction of controls for nitrous oxide – the so-called ‘laughing gas’ – on the road. The drug has gained popularity in recent years, especially among young people. It gives users a buzz similar to that of alcohol and can have a severe influence on one’s driving abilities, so […]
February 19, 2024
With a market share of more than 70%, still according to the estimates of Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, the French-Italian-American automaker comes out on top with 30,000 orders in the social leasing contracts in France. Renault got just over 10,000 orders, according to CEO Luca de Meo. That the difference in terms of sales between […]
February 15, 2024
After successful testing in three departments – Rhône, les Hauts-de-Seine, and l’Eure-et-Loir – France is generalizing the numeric or digital driving license to replace the paper version nationwide. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has announced that motorists must apply for this digital driving license. Pierre Chasseray, general delegate and spokesperson for the motorist’s association ’40 millions […]
February 14, 2024
The Dutch police have a new weapon against high-speed and high-power electric bicycles. They recently introduced a roadside testing platform to check the speed of mopeds, scooters, and other electric vehicles, such as electric bicycles, speed pedelecs, and fat bikes. The roller test benches also check whether these vehicles comply with the applicable legislation. The […]
February 13, 2024
Flemish Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) resolutely opts for more structural measures to address the capacity problems at the technical inspection centers. The most remarkable measure is the extension of the periodicity for passenger cars (vehicle category M11). New vehicles were subject to a yearly inspection from the day they turned four years […]
February 13, 2024
On the first day, the Flemish government’s e-counter opened to apply for a premium for a new or second-hand zero-emission vehicle; 1,423 applications were submitted in the first three hours. Most applications are about new cars. Flemish Minister of Mobility and Public Works Lydia Peeters (Open VLD) responds satisfactorily. Of the more than 1 400 […]
February 12, 2024
The share of employees with a ‘mobility budget’ has doubled again in 2023, from 0.2% in 2022 to 0.4% in 2023. This means that one in 250 employees now has a mobility budget. With the federal mobility budget, employees exchange their (right to a) company car for a budget to manage their mobility sustainably. “It […]
February 12, 2024
On Friday, the Flemish government finally agreed to adjust the premium for electric cars: the bonus can only be applied for 2024 and not for three years, as previously announced. Whether the aid will continue after 2024 will be up to the new government, as elections are due in June 2024. The premiums remain the […]
February 12, 2024
The European Council confirmed on Friday an agreement with the EU Parliament on a 90% CO2 emission reduction by 2040 for heavy-duty vehicles and a 100% reduction for buses by 2035. It came after a last-minute debate within Germany’s coalition over the proposal, with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), the smallest party in the three-party […]
February 07, 2024
According to the plans presented on Tuesday, the European Commission wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union by 90% by 2040 compared to 1990 levels. “There’s no other way,” says Wopke Hoekstra, European Commissioner for Climate Action. “The longer the EU waits to take difficult measures, the harder and more expensive it […]
February 07, 2024
Most drivers (98.4%) tested for alcohol during the last winter campaign blew negative. That was the best result since the so-called ‘Bob’ campaigns began in 1995. For comparison, ten years ago, in 2013-2014, 3.2% of drivers were still positive, or twice as many as this year. This winter’s Bob campaign started on Friday, December 1st, […]
February 07, 2024
On Monday, Stellantis Chairman John Elkann dismissed speculation that the Italian-US-French group plans to merge with Renault. “‘No plans are being examined for Stellantis mergers with other manufacturers,’ Elkann said when asked about the rumors. On Tuesday, he also tried to appease the Italian government about Stellantis’ commitment to Italy. Renault, for its part, said […]
February 06, 2024
A young motorist from Ghent (Belgium) has been sentenced to a heavy fine of 1,600 euros for driving his father’s manual BMW while he only had a driver’s license for an automatic car. He also had to hand in his driver’s license for 15 days and take his practical exam. In Belgium, holders of a […]
February 06, 2024
The Council of State is sharply critical of the Flemish government’s draft decision on a premium for the purchase of an electric car. The Council has problems with the ‘first come, first served’ principle and fears due to the limited budget also a possible reduction of the premium in case of too much demand. The […]
February 05, 2024
In a decisive move to combat escalating fuel import costs and worsening air pollution in its cities, Ethiopia has announced a groundbreaking shift in its automotive policies. Transport Minister Alemu Sime calls for an immediate ban on buying fossil-fueled vehicles. What’s 2035 for Europe is today for Ethiopia. Minister Sime revealed that the nation spent […]
February 05, 2024
As of March, the Italian government is activating a new subsidy scheme aimed at decarbonizing its polluting old car fleet. The plan entails substantial aid for lower incomes and incentives for hybridized vehicles and charging infrastructure. Almost one billion euros is put aside for the national clean sweep. The 950 million euro plan was unveiled […]
February 05, 2024
Over 54% of Parisians voted in a referendum to support a proposal by Mayor Anne Hidalgo to triple the parking fee for SUVs, including hybrid and electric cars weighing more than 1,6 and 2 tons, respectively. The vote managed to mobilize only 5,68% of voters or 78,000 Parisians. Under the plan, parking fees for visitors […]
February 01, 2024
A new study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) indicates that the gap between real-world and official CO2 emission and fuel consumption values of new combustion engine cars increased from 8% to 14% between 2018 and 2022. The average gap, or divergence, between the official and real-world fuel consumption and CO2 emission values […]
January 30, 2024
Belgium will not have a sharp increase in taxes on fossil company cars. After much wrangling, the federal government has agreed on the benefit in kind for diesel and gasoline company cars. The government reached a deal by linking other dossiers to that of company cars. Thus, the annual ceiling of the bicycle allowance will […]
January 30, 2024
Toyota Motor Corp. said today its group sold more cars than any other automaker in 2023, maintaining its lead for the fourth consecutive year as it ramped up production amid an easing chip shortage. The automaker sold a record 11.23 million vehicles globally last year, including those produced by the group’s mini-vehicle maker, Daihatsu Motor […]
January 29, 2024
The public prosecutor’s office in Limburg has announced stricter action against mobile phone use behind the wheel. From February 1st, anyone using his mobile phone or other mobile device while driving a motor vehicle will immediately have to hand in his driver’s license for fifteen days, after which a €174 fine will follow. Similar measures […]
January 26, 2024
Venice will install speed cameras for boats along its world-famous canals. The city hopes this measure will limit the speed of motorized boats and ships, make the city safer, and prevent erosion due to high boat waves. Wave motion – ‘moto ondoso’ in Italian – causes erosion of the canal walls below the waterline, damaging […]
January 25, 2024
“Despite lofty ambitions and strict requirements, most passenger cars on EU roads still emit the same quantity of CO2 as 12 years ago,” the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said in a statement. A top EU auditor reported on Wednesday that sales of electric cars in the European Union are not growing fast enough to […]
January 23, 2024
Three years after the introduction of the 30 km/hour rule in Brussels, Brussels Mobility can only present a fine balance sheet: the introduction of the speed limit has not only led to less noise pollution and a general decrease in average speeds in the capital’s streets but has also reduced the severity of accidents, particularly […]
January 19, 2024
Starting in January 2024, Valorauto, a joint venture between Stellantis and recycling specialist Galloo, will expand its end-of-life vehicle recycling service to private owners. This service offers a free and responsible solution to the end-of-life management of vehicles weighing under 3,5 tons, for both passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs), regardless of the brand […]
January 18, 2024
The Belgian federal government is poised to decide on a proposal from Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) to give owners of company cars on diesel and gasoline some tax relief. The rabbit in van Petegehem’s hat adds the more modern WLTP data to the NEDC measurements, dampening the shock jump. Owners of company […]
January 18, 2024
The administrative court of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany has once again declared that the update for diesel engines Volkswagen proposed in the aftermath of dieselgate is also illegal. The homologation by the official German car agency Kraftfahrt Bundesamt (KBA) is invalid. The German NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has presented the update to the court and welcomes […]
January 15, 2024
Last year, the Brussels region fined a record number of motorists who entered the Brussels low-emission zone (LEZ) with a car that was too polluting. Almost 30 000 drivers – 29 643 to be precise – were fined, an increase of almost 60% compared to 2022. In 2020, 12 321 fines were issued; in 2021, […]
January 12, 2024
A new legal framework gives Belgian police a legal basis to deploy bicycles with GPS trackers from now on. Previous limited experiments by some police zones with lure bikes were successful but time-consuming and required the intervention of the magistracy as the method could otherwise be considered a provocation. The city of Ghent, in particular, […]
January 08, 2024
According to market research ordered by Mobia, the Belgian car buyer will be more impacted by a premium to buy an electric car than by the eventual expansion of LEZ zones. Mobia, the overarching association of car sector federations Febiac (new car market), Traxio (second-hand car market), and Renta (car leasing and renting), has done […]
January 03, 2024
At least 22% of new cars sold by manufacturers in the UK this year must be zero-emission. New rules requiring car manufacturers to sell a minimum proportion of zero-emission vehicles have come into force, the Department for Transport (DfT) in the UK announced. The mandate became law on Wednesday. Zero emission means, in practice, that […]
January 03, 2024
According to a draft document the Italian press agency ANSA could lay hands on, the Italian government is playing around with the idea of subsidizing the private purchase of electric vehicles from 6 000 to 13 750 euros. The condition is to scrap a Euro 2 car or even older, and it would only apply […]
January 02, 2024
Taxi drivers at Brussels Airport in Zaventem think the mandatory language requirements are too strict, so they went on strike for two and a half hours last Friday. The Flemish government wants to impose an oral and written test of Dutch (level B1) on drivers from 1 July 2024. “The bar is far too high,” […]
December 29, 2023
The Škoda Enyaq 60 GO is the latest of a series of electric vehicles in Belgium that sees its bare price plunge with an attractive €6 310 to get under the €40 000 threshold set by the Flemish government to be eligible for the 5 000 euro premium. But that twenty-million-euro pot will only benefit […]
December 29, 2023
Some EV experts and sector federation Traxio say there is an urgent need for a reliable battery test and the appropriate certificate to regulate upcoming sales of second-hand electric vehicles. Recent tests of battery packs in second-hand full-electric vehicles have shown that batteries still can be in good shape after years of use and can […]
December 29, 2023
American powertrain manufacturer Cummins has to pay almost $1,7 billion as a fine for selling devices that can bypass emissions sensors. The US Department of Justice sees this as a direct violation of the Clean Air Act and has imposed a fine, which is the second-largest in the history of the Act, which was installed […]
December 26, 2023
The Brussels government and the board of directors of the Brussels public transport company MIVB/STIB have signed the new 2024-2028 management agreement. The agreement provides for an 11,9% increase in supply so that MIVB/STIB can count 457 million passengers by 2028, or over a third more than 2022. Indexation of fares is provided, but for […]
December 26, 2023
Toyota is not experiencing its best week ever, on the contrary. At its daughter Daihatsu, part of the Toyota Group, serious fraud has been discovered running already for decades. Toyota has recalled more than one million vehicles in the US with a possible airbag safety issue. On Thursday, the Japanese Ministry of Transport started an […]
December 21, 2023
The General Court of the European Union has annulled the billions in aid approved by the European Commission to French airline Air France-KLM during the coronavirus health crisis. According to the court, the EC “erred” at the time. France, the major shareholder of Air France, helped the airline in 2020 with a 4-billion-euro state guarantee […]
December 21, 2023
The harmonization organization SAE International (created by the Society of Automotive Engineers) published a corresponding document that turns Tesla’s de facto North American Charging Standard (NACS) into a harmonized connector standard. The development prompted the Department of Transportation (DoT) to look into infrastructure funding. Volkswagen is also joining the band for good. The ‘SAE J3400 […]
December 20, 2023
The city of Antwerp will adjust its low-emission zone (LEZ) regulations and postpone the next tightening of the standards from 2025 to 2026. The city will also take additional social measures and increase the number of day passes per year (from 8 to 12). By relaxing the rules, diesel cars with Euro 5 standard (or […]
December 19, 2023
Negotiators from the EU Parliament and the EU member states agreed on the new emission limits for cars, buses, and other (heavy) vehicles, commonly known as the Euro 7 standards. As the original proposals of the European Commission have been weakened by both the member states and the EU Parliament, reactions to the final decision […]
December 19, 2023
The German government announced a direct halt of the environmental bonus in 2024 after it had to compromise its budget for the coming years. First, it sounded like Germany would phase out EV incentives earlier than planned; now, it has been scrapped entirely as of last Sunday. “We will phase out the environmental bonus, i.e., […]
December 18, 2023
GM daughter Cruise, a robotaxi company, is said to have fired one out of four employees. That’s approximately 900 people and 24% of all full-time equivalents (FTE). Most of these employees work in the non-technical part of the company. Last Thursday, an email explaining the decision was sent to all personnel members. Strange accident The […]
December 18, 2023
On Friday, the Belgian Federal Council of Ministers will consider the final details of a Royal Decree to ban nitrous oxide, the so-called ‘laughing gas’. The product’s sale, import, possession, transport, and purchase will be prohibited unless it concerns a medical, technical, or nutritional application. Nitrous oxide has become a popular drug among young people. […]
