October 18, 2023
For the Belgian car market, 2023 will probably be the year that electrified cars took over. A positive side-effect is that the average CO2 emission of these new cars landed under 90 g/km for the first time. Meanwhile, the split between individual buyers and company cars gets bigger and bigger. The same is true for […]
October 17, 2023
At the Japan Mobility Show 2023, Toyota will not only present two BEV concepts, but it will also showcase the Kayoibako. This new vehicle is a multi-purpose modular electric concept that can fit numerous roles. The budget-friendly 4-meter-long Kayoibako can double as a last-mile delivery van, shuttle van, or even camper, and the perfect city […]
October 17, 2023
Sweden´s largest energy storage system, made with reuse batteries with an output of 2.8 megawatts, was commissioned on Monday in Gothenburg. BatteryLoop, the subsidiary of Swedish Stena Recycling, specializing in connecting used EV batteries, used batteries from Mercedes-Benz EVs for its stationary energy storage system. The storage system is to power a new sustainable district […]
October 16, 2023
Japan’s number one car manufacturer will exhibit the two new Toyota concepts at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 (October 28th to November 5th) with a booth themed “Let’s Change the Future of Cars – Find Your Future.” In this first announcement of models to be exhibited at the booth, Toyota reveals some design details for […]
October 16, 2023
Italian sports carmaker accepts several cryptocurrencies as a method of payment. In the first phase, the convenience is accessible exclusively in the US, but Europe is scheduled to follow at the beginning of next year. American customers have a choice between Bitcoin, Ether, and USDC. The latter is directly linked to the value of the […]
October 16, 2023
Europe’s most important motor show will finally make its comeback in 2024. That’s what the Geneva International Motor Show (GIMS) organizers have announced recently. The 100th-anniversary edition will open again between Monday, 26 February, and Sunday, 3 March 2024. After four years of cancellations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and problems around the organizers (financial […]
October 16, 2023
Belgian bus manufacturer Van Hool has joined forces with Kiepe Electric from Germany and Alstom from France to create the fully electric 24-meter Exqui-City double-articulated bus for Île-de-France Mobilités. The project was first announced in 2022 and is now revealed at Busworld in Brussels, with deliveries scheduled for the end of 2023. The new 24-meter […]
October 16, 2023
Chinese-owned electric Smart, co-developed by Geely with Mercedes-Benz, is targeting a new (private) potential buyer public by introducing a new basic variant called Pro with a 49 kWh battery at a price €5 000 lower than the Pro + with a 66 kWh battery. It will be available in Belgium from 2024 at €36 495 […]
October 13, 2023
At its EV Day in Seoul, South Korean carmaker Kia has taken the wraps off the production version of its new compact SUV, the EV5. It’s a ‘scaled-down’ version of the big EV9 and will be positioned as a forerunner of a series of affordable EVs. A taste of what’s to come is seen with […]
October 13, 2023
The world’s number one car manufacturer, Toyota, and the Japanese energy company, Idemitsu Kosan, are teaming up on solid-state battery development. The two Japanese companies aim to reach commercialization by 2028. Toyota is joining forces with Idemitsu Kosan to advance the development and production of solid-state batteries for its future electric cars. The collaboration focuses […]
October 12, 2023
Volkswagen will discontinue the production of its small Up!, which is also offered with an electric drive. That means the tiny VW has been discontinued earlier than initially announced and will leave a gap in the VW model range for several years. Production will end much earlier than previously planned. In May 2022, Hildegard Wortmann, […]
October 12, 2023
Following the introduction of VW’s new 210 kW (286 hp) electric motor on the ID.7, more and more MEB platform-based models are getting this more efficient and powerful drivetrain. The Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 SUVs are next in line, raising their driving range up to 556 km, while the price remains the same. More power […]
October 12, 2023
After a concept version, two prototypes, and a camouflaged test model, Mercedes-Benz Truck has finally lifted the cover off its production-ready long-haul battery-electric truck. Somewhat surprisingly, Mercedes has opted for a futuristic look that references the GenH2 truck concept. We’ve known about the Mercedes eActros 600 for a while. Daimler Truck first showed a concept […]
October 11, 2023
German battery start-up High-Performance Battery (HPB) claims to have reached a breakthrough in battery technology by lifting its solid-state technology to production readiness. It’s one of the biggest hurdles of these promising battery packs. While nothing technological seems to be holding back solid-state, ramping them up from laboratory prototypes to commercial level is particularly challenging. […]
October 11, 2023
BMW has lifted the veil on its new smaller SUV-Coupé – or Sports Activity Coupé, as Munich refers to it. The new X2 changes from a smaller, stubbier version of the X1 to a literal coupé version of the new X1. Like its brother, it also comes as an all-electric version, under the name of […]
October 10, 2023
In a works council on Monday morning, the direction of the Audi Brussels plant communicated that the Audi Q4 e-tron production, planned to start soon, has been postponed. For the moment, there is no additional production capacity needed. The smallest electric Audi was already in production in VW’s biggest EV factory in Zwickau (Germany), with […]
October 10, 2023
Iveco and Hyundai have unveiled their first collaboration for the bus market: the Iveco Bus E-Way H2, which runs on a hybrid fuel cell and battery-electric powertrain and is meant for city use. The new zero-emission bus was unveiled at the Busworld show in Brussels. Hyundai and Iveco first announced their partnership for zero-emission drivetrains […]
October 10, 2023
The Volkswagen Group’s new battery subsidiary PowerCo and the Belgian materials technology group Umicore have established a joint venture for cathode and pre-material production in Europe. The JV is called Ionway. From 2025, it will supply PowerCo’s European battery cell factories with key materials from the Ionway factory in Poland. By the decade’s end, the […]
October 09, 2023
Volvo Cars global sales reached 61 666 cars in September, up 25% compared to the same period last year, as Europe, the US, and China all reported sales growth for the month. Electrified cars represented 34% of all sales, an increase of 37%. For the first nine months of 2023, the company sold 509 158 […]
October 09, 2023
Polestar, Geely’s ‘Scandinavian inspired’ BEV daughter, aims to reach profitability in 2025. This can only be achieved by increasing the number of deliveries. In the third quarter, the Swedish-Chinese brand achieved a 50% jump compared to Q3/2022. Polestar delivered around 13 900 electric cars to customers in the third quarter, 50,4% more than in the […]
October 06, 2023
It’s cute without being a genuine showstopper, compact and still reasonably spacious inside, quiet and luxurious, and blessed with more power than one usually needs. We’re talking about the Swedish-Chinese Zeekr X, the twin brother of the much anticipated smallest Volvo EV, the EX30. So we were curious to actually drive it on Swedish roads […]
October 06, 2023
Skoda has updated its electric Enyaq iV, specifically the sporty RS version. The SUV now gets a boost in power from 299 to 340 hp, thanks to a revised and higher-output electric motor on the rear axle. The Czechs have also upgraded the energy management software, meaning that despite the power increase and the same […]
October 06, 2023
A loaded near-production prototype of the Mercedes-Benz eActros 600, Daimler Truck’s long-haul battery-electric truck, has completed a round trip from Stuttgart to South Tyrol and back on one charge. The distance of 530 km each way confirms Mercedes’ promised 500 km range for the model. The Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 is launching soon, with the world […]
October 06, 2023
The end of government subsidies for electric company cars is causing a significant slump in sales of EVs in Germany. Their market share in September has fallen from 32% to 14% one month earlier. Overall, the automotive market is regressing only slightly, but this year’s negative trend is a first. The Kraftfahrt Bundesamt (KBA) results […]
October 05, 2023
The second-generation Skodia Kodiaq is a decisive step up. The car has become even bigger, carries premium looks, features hybrid technology for the first time, and introduces sustainable interior materials. Twinned to the recently unveiled Volkswagen Tiguan, the model paves the way for a more modern Skoda. The dimensions and styling make clear that Kodiaq […]
October 05, 2023
As a key sponsor of the Paris Olympic Games next year, Toyota is deploying a fleet of zero-emission mobility solutions that must support athletes and auxiliary services. The aim is to reduce carbon emissions from transport at the Games by 50% compared to the previous edition in Tokyo, where the Japanese brand also attended as […]
October 04, 2023
According to Filip Rylant, spokesperson for mobility federation Traxio, second-hand car market growth cooled considerably in September after three months of double-digit growth. Interest in used cars remains high, and although the increase is moderate, the market is still developing favorably. The good news is that second-hand car availability is increasing, and prices are stabilizing. […]
October 04, 2023
Volvo Cars has signed a multi-year agreement with the Israeli developer of fast-charging technology StoreDot. The car brand will work with the latter’s experts to develop and test XFC cells. The first fruit of the collaboration is scheduled for next year. Storedot has been continuously working on its XFC cells (the abbreviation for ‘extreme fast […]
October 03, 2023
Omoda is the name of a new Chinese brand, part of the Chinese car manufacturer Chery Automobile. The brand will first be introduced in Belgium and Luxembourg at the beginning of 2024. The first car introduced is the Omoda 5, a fully electric SUV that will be sold at just under €40 000 for the […]
October 03, 2023
Tesla is losing a tailwind. While it beat analyst’s forecasts quarter after quarter, the growth was halted during Q3 of 2023, ending its dominant streak. With 435 059 cars delivered, the company shifted 31 081 cars less than the previous quarter. Tesla points to its remanufacturing procedure as an explanation. We had grown accustomed to […]
October 03, 2023
In Belgium and Luxembourg, 38 906 new cars were registered in September, 25,4% more than in September last year. For the first three quarters of the year, the increase was 33,2% compared to last year, totaling 374 848 newly registered cars. In the Netherlands and France, we see the same tendencies but less pronounced. The […]
October 02, 2023
A small roadster with fifties styling and an electric drive is proposed on the market for a few months. The origin is Dutch, and the design inspiration is British, but the Porsche 356 reminiscence is not far away. Meet the Carice TC2. “With the Carice TC2, we want to create art on wheels,” Niels van […]
September 28, 2023
Demand for electric vehicles is decreasing in South Korea due to a slowing economy and is forcing local manufacturers Hyundai and Kia to cut the prices of their electric models. This comes after the government decided to expand its subsidy to more expensive models. Whereas electric vehicles continue to become more popular in Europe due […]
September 28, 2023
Honda is racking up a series of novelties and world premieres for the upcoming Japan Mobility Show. It has already unveiled pictures of two small city cars in a preview. The Sustaina-C represents the company’s vision of circularity, while the smaller CI-MEV is an urban last-mile car with enhanced automated driving. The Sustaina-C looks like […]
September 28, 2023
Nissan’s plan to launch only electric cars and hybrids in Europe from 2023 lasted only a short time. From now on, the Japanese want to introduce only pure electric vehicles so that the last hybrid will be sold by 2030. According to the new plan, Nissan wants to sell only fully electric cars in Europe […]
September 27, 2023
After the all-electric i5 and the mild-hybrid versions unveiled at launch, the new BMW 5 Series Sedan range is now completed with two plug-in hybrid versions. The 530e combines a 4-cylinder with an 184-hp electric motor to produce 299 hp, while the 550e xDrive uses a 3,0-litre straight-six to bump the output to 489 hp. […]
September 27, 2023
The Flemish government has (re-)installed a premium of €5 000 to purchase a new battery electric vehicle (BEV). For a second-hand one, there’s a subsidy of €3 000. There’s a significant restriction, however: the purchasing price of the BEV has to be less than €40 000, severely reducing the choice of electric cars on offer. […]
September 26, 2023
Dongfeng Honda, a joint venture between these Chinese and Japanese brands, has announced the creation of a whole new brand for the Chinese market. Lingxi has been unveiled at a special event showcasing the brand’s latest concept car, the Lingxi L. This study announces a range of new EVs, including a sedan, based on an […]
September 26, 2023
The electric cars based on the ‘Neue Klasse’ or ‘New Class’ from BMW are to usher in nothing less than a new era, as the board of management has recently emphasized. According to a media report, this upheaval is also likely to be accompanied by a new nomenclature for the model series and drive variants […]
September 25, 2023
The Vietnamese electric car manufacturer VinFast has now set the fourth quarter of 2023 as the target for the start of deliveries in Europe. The introduction has been postponed several times. At the same time, VinFast presented its first official business figures after it went IPO in August. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the […]
September 25, 2023
Kawasaki has unveiled its first two production electric motorcycles: the Ninja e-1 and the Z e-1. Both models are meant for city use with a 9 kW motor, which makes them equivalent to the 125 cc class and around 72 km of range. Electric motorcycles are slowly gaining traction, with models like the Harley-Davidson LiveWire […]
September 22, 2023
Audi has updated its most compact all-electric model, the Q4 e-tron, with a new electric motor, an improved battery, and a tweaked suspension for better handling. The standard equipment has been improved, too. From the end of the year, Audi Brussels will also build the updated Q4 e-tron to meet demand. The updates to the […]
September 22, 2023
After being introduced in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and the Netherlands, the Chinese luxury brand Hongqi, the ‘Royal Warrant Holder’ to Chinese President Xi Jinping, will cross the Belgian border in October. The first model on sale is Hongqi’s E-HS9, a large six or seven-seat SUV with 551 horsepower and a range of up to […]
September 21, 2023
As Mercedes unveiled the all-electric CLA concept at the IAA Mobility 2023 in Munich as a near-to-production version, final approval was in line with expectations. By the mouth of Mercedes Head of Production Jörg Burzer, it is now confirmed that the model, which introduces a significant shuffle in the small car portfolio from the brand, […]
September 21, 2023
As of next year, Volvo halts production and subsequent sales of diesel engines in its entire model line-up. The news was symbolically released at Climate Week in New York. CEO of Volvo Jim Rowan called electric cars “a key part of our response to climate change”. As of 2024, cars from Volvo will only be […]
September 20, 2023
A 3,5-year EU project, GIANTS (Green Intelligent Affordable New Transport Solutions), aims to develop technology solutions that will enable the production of affordable LEVs or light electric vehicles (categorized L5, L6, and L7) for urban transport worldwide. Two major car manufacturers are also involved. How can the millions of tuk-tuks in the world’s cities be […]
September 20, 2023
Ford has unveiled a plug-in hybrid version of its Ranger pickup truck. Although not all of the information has been made public, the Ranger PHEV should remain just as practical with some added benefits from the battery, including a 45 km EV driving range. Although it’s not the rumored all-electric Ranger, Ford has shared images […]
September 20, 2023
Volkswagen has unleashed the third generation of the Tiguan, its midsize crossover, with an all-new design, heavily upgraded tech, and two new plug-in hybrid drivetrains with up to 100 km of fully-electric driving range. The commercial launch is scheduled for Q1 2024. The Tiguan is VW’s most popular modal globally, so launching an all-new generation […]
September 19, 2023
Spain’s Perte plan, a subsidy scheme to transform the country into an industrial hub for electric mobility, is bearing fruit. After Volkswagen, the Stellantis group is tapping into favorable incentives. Models built on the STLA Small architecture will be produced in Spain. Stellantis has three plants in Spain and will now convert those in Figueruelas, […]
September 19, 2023
Tesla has surpassed the five million cars produced for fifteen years of manufacturing. Most remarkably, the jump from four to five million units took the company no longer than half a year. The success is mainly attributed to the highly efficient Shanghai factory, where the symbolic model was assembled. The news on the milestone was […]
September 19, 2023
Gotion High-Tech, a Chinese battery cell manufacturer and Volkswagen partner, now also builds its battery packs in Göttingen. The first battery products are to be delivered to customers in October. “Our Göttingen factory’s production line is highly automated, with an overall automation level of nearly 70% and close to 80% in the module assembly stage,” […]
September 18, 2023
Carmakers can sell small electric cars made in Europe for € 25 000 while making a profit, new research from Transport & Environment (T&E) shows. Falling production costs and battery prices would make mass-market B-segment vehicles feasible to electrify by 2025, according to the study by Transport & Environment (T&E) based on analysis by the […]
September 18, 2023
Xpeng will be the next Chinese manufacturer to launch an electric van on the domestic market from the end of this year. It will bear the model designation Xpeng X9 and will go on sale later this year. The first undisguised pictures and technical key data have now emerged from the Chinese Ministry of Industry […]
September 15, 2023
Volkswagen is laying off workforce at its biggest plant for EV manufacturing in Zwickau. As incentives are declining and the economy remains weak, demand for the ID. models is underperforming. Volkswagen made the decision official at an extraordinary works council yesterday. The German car giant will not extend the interim contracts of 269 laborers who […]
September 14, 2023
The clock is ticking for the three big American car groups to reach an agreement with the Union of Auto Workers (UAW). Without a deal on new wages and other demands, the union threatens to strike on Friday, the 15th of 2023. It would dim the spotlights of the Detroit Auto Show, which opened doors […]
September 13, 2023
Battery packs with pouch cells from LG Chem continue to cause problems and recalls at car manufacturers who purchase them for their EVs. Latest in row are Porsche and Audi, globally recalling 6 766 vehicles over a possible leak inside the battery pack that could lead to sparks. The affected models are from the Taycan […]
September 13, 2023
After a few teasers, Peugeot has finally unveiled its new all-electric e-3008. The popular SUV now resembles a high-riding fastback with a swooping roof line. In addition to its new look, the e-3008 is the first vehicle to sit on Stellantis’ STLA Medium platform, offering from 210 to 320 hp of power and an impressive […]
September 13, 2023
The XEV Yoyo, imported in Belgium by VJB Motors in Hasselt, is available to order in its latest model year. To address the growing competition in the microcar class, the Yoyo receives a more efficient battery for more range, some new options, and a revised line-up. The irony is more than subtle. At the time […]
September 13, 2023
Californian EV start-up Fisker is ramping up production of its Fisker Ocean One EV at Magna Steyr in Austria from 180 to 300 per day, the company announces. So far, 3 123 customer vehicles have been built, but by the end of September, 5 000 is the target. All these Ocean One launch editions have […]
September 12, 2023
Volkswagen has unveiled its sporty interpretation of the ID.7 sedan: the ID.X Performance. It features a two-motor electric drivetrain with 558 hp and numerous carbon enhancements for the bodywork. Does this show car hint at what the MEB platform is capable of? Remember the Wörthersee GTI Treffen, the year’s highlight for fans of powerful and […]
