March 28, 2023
Seven out of a hundred Belgian drivers admit to watching video films behind the wheel at least once a month. That is what a recent survey traffic safety institute Vias organized among 6 000 Belgians revealed. In Flanders, 5% of car drivers say they sometimes watch a video in the car; in Wallonia, it is […]
March 28, 2023
The United States and Japan have signed an agreement to strengthen supply chains for critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and electric vehicle batteries. The agreement also envisages strengthening trade between the two countries in these products, which are essential for the energy transition and have been dominated by China. The agreement marks the first […]
March 28, 2023
With the final life cycle of internal combustion engines (ICE) in sight, Audi has decided to change its model naming structure to differentiate its fuel-powered models from its electric vehicles. As a result, new EVs will have an even number (A4, A6, A8), while ICE-powered models will be odd-numbered (A3, A5, A7). But the e-tron […]
March 28, 2023
Some thirty movable bridges across Flanders must be replaced by 2030 with a public-private partnership (PPP). Prior to the start of the works, the Flemish Waterway will start a market survey to present the approach to the sector. The Flemish Waterway wants to have all its movable structures (bridges, locks, weirs, and pumping installations) remote-controlled […]
March 28, 2023
Toyota and component supplier Denso have signed an agreement with Israeli wireless EV charging specialist Electreon to develop a wireless charging solution for the electric vehicles of the Japanese car manufacturer. This includes integrating wireless charging in new vehicles, an aftermarket solution for existing cars, and a plan to standardize the technology. Electreon specializes in […]
March 28, 2023
Brussels-based car importer and distributor D’Ieteren Automotive is setting up a distribution and service network to launch the Swiss-Italian Microlino electric car by summer in France. Besides Belgium and France, D’Ieteren is also the distributor of the microcar in Luxembourg. In France, the Microlino belongs to the L7 vehicle class and is available to holders […]
March 28, 2023
From Brussels Airport you can fly to nine new destinations this summer. These are Toronto (Canada), Billund (Denmark), Seville (Spain), Kayseri (Turkey), Monastir (Tunisia), and Béjaïa, Constantine, Oran, and Tlemcen (Algeria). From Brussels Airport, 59 airlines will thus depart to 175 destinations in summer. Brussels Airlines, with four additional aircraft in its fleet, will fly […]
March 27, 2023
German drivetrain parts specialist Schaeffler has developed a compact electric hub motor suited for municipal utility vehicles, with manufacturers of street sweepers, snowplows, and garbage collectors already showing interest. This innovation represents a new step in eliminating air and noise pollution from cities and other densely-populated areas. Schaeffler has been innovating in the electric drivetrain […]
March 27, 2023
The French traffic safety organization, Sécurité Routière, has decided to phase out average speed checks. According to some French media, they would be too expensive to maintain, although a motorists’ organization questions that. The oldest installations, which appeared in 2012, would even need replacement. Average speed checks are no typical French phenomenon. They’re frequently used […]
March 27, 2023
The EU Commission and the German government have agreed on a compromise on how new cars with combustion engines can be registered after 2035 as long as they run on climate-neutral fuel. The original regulation on the phasing out of internal combustion engines is not to be touched again, and the exceptions will now be […]
March 27, 2023
For foreign carmakers, Germany must be the toughest market to conquer. Not only because domestic carmakers carry a reputation for high standards and sophisticated technology but also because the patriotic feelings of the population tend to favor the local brands. That circle has been broken in the corporate garage for electric vehicles. Among employees, the […]
March 27, 2023
Flemish public transport operator De Lijn plans to buy up to 600 new electric buses. With the new framework agreement, De Lijn wants to green its fleet. Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) is making at least 55 million euros a year available for the purchase of emission-free buses. Two framework agreements are involved: […]
March 27, 2023
German Targobank’s yearly Car Study, a survey conducted by survey institute Forsa, shows that the average German is again increasingly falling back on gasoline cars rather than an electric one when considering buying a new car. The tendency is quite apparent: 30% would prioritize it, compared to 22% the year before. The eagerness to switch […]
March 24, 2023
The Dutch owner of a VW Golf TDI bought in 2010 has to be paid a compensation fee of €3 000 because his car contained fraudulent software. It’s the first judgment in court out of four cases introduced by the Stichting Volkswagen Group Diesel Efficiency (VGDES) and the consumer organization Consumentenbond. Meanwhile, European law has […]
March 24, 2023
Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB is launching the ‘Flex Subscription’, a ticket formula for employees who no longer need to be in the office or on the work floor daily. The first flexible subscription is one for ten travel days a month. “We want to use adapted products to make the train even more attractive […]
March 24, 2023
An extensive survey conducted by Europe’s largest leasing company, ALD Automotive, with +1 500 lease car drivers, shows the Dutch EV driver (69%) is slowly getting cured of his ‘range anxiety’, the fear of getting stuck with an empty battery. But ICE drivers persist in their delusion. Most EV drivers (79%) are positive about the […]
March 24, 2023
It’s light. It packs a lot of energy. And it could make electric planes a reality. So when Amprius first announced its revolutionary lithium-ion battery pack, there were reasons to be enthusiastic. And cautious. The sector of battery developers is famous for making promises that it finds difficult to keep afterward. But in the case […]
March 24, 2023
Germany’s Dorothea von Boxberg (49) will become the new CEO of Brussels Airlines. The top woman will take the helm of the airline from 15 April. Von Boxberg was, for the past two years, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo, the cargo airline which, like Brussels Airlines, is part of the German airline group Lufthansa. She succeeds […]
March 24, 2023
Belgian bus builder Van Hool has signed a contract with Qbuzz, public transport operator in the Netherlands, for the delivery of 54 battery-electric buses. Earlier, news broke that Qbuzz also ordered 63 e-buses from Ebusco. The buses will be used for regional passenger transport in the Dutch provinces of Groningen and Drenthe. Qbuzz has decided […]
March 24, 2023
The city of Amsterdam is planning to reduce the speed of electric bicycles to 20 kilometers per hour to improve road safety. Introducing a maximum speed should tackle the increasing number of accidents with e-bikes. According to a 2021 AT5 survey among 1 900 inhabitants (AT5 is a local television station in Amsterdam), 75% of […]
March 24, 2023
Volkswagen plans to produce a total of three million fully electric small cars at its Spanish (Seat) plants in Martorell and Pamplona between 2025 and 2030. The total number can be even higher with the sub-20-000 euro entry-level model announced for 2027. But, probably, the latter won’t be built in Spain. This was announced by […]
March 23, 2023
Colruyt Group is selling Parkwind, a company that builds offshore wind turbines, to Japanese energy company JERA. The Japanese will pay around 1,55 billion euros for the company. Parkwind currently participates in, among others, four of the nine wind farms off the Belgian coast in the North Sea. Those four – Belwind, Northwind, Nobelwind, and […]
March 23, 2023
Dutch electric bus manufacturer Ebusco has secured a new deal with Dutch public transport company Qbuzz, providing up to 63 Ebusco 3.0 electric buses for the Groningen and Drenthe provinces. The new-gen buses are equipped with a large battery pack, allowing them to perform their daily duties without recharging. Qbuzz is a regional public transport […]
March 23, 2023
Dutch rail is struggling with a badger plague. The animals often nest near and under railway tracks, which today is the case at forty locations, particularly in the eastern part of the country. After acute difficulties in Friesland, the animals are now causing problems between Eindhoven and Den Bosch. Rail manager ProRail fears that the […]
March 23, 2023
The new Ford is all about electric vehicles and American roots. And with the latter come thrilling gimmicks like a burnout mode. A patent filing reveals that the brand wants a performance mode for its electric models that enables intentional wheel spin to heat or smoke the tires. The patent includes images of the Mustang Mach-E, suggesting […]
March 23, 2023
The German support for e-fuels in new cars could leave the average German driver paying €210 to fill up their tank, a new analysis by NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) shows. The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in a stand-off with the EU over his insistence that cars powered by e-fuel can be sold after […]
March 23, 2023
According to local media outlet The Paper, Chinese power battery giant CATL has achieved mass production of its Qilin Battery. The battery is a stepping stone for the manufacturer, outperforming the latest 4680 generation packs from Tesla and promising ranges up to 1 000 kilometers. The pack will debut at Volvo’s sister brand Zeekr. As […]
March 23, 2023
French Air Liquide announces it will construct an industrial-scale pilot cracker in the Port of Antwerp to convert ammonia (NH3) into hydrogen (H2). The new plant, scheduled to be operational by 2024, will be a crucial stepstone transporting green energy from sunny regions worldwide over the oceans to Europe, a key enabler of the energy […]
March 23, 2023
The Opel Grandland, a compact SUV from Opel also available as PHEV, will be succeeded by a fully electric model next year. Parent company Stellantis is investing € 130 million in the German plant in Eisenach to prepare it for the production of the e-SUV based on the new STLA Medium EV platform of the […]
March 22, 2023
BMW’s venture capital unit i Ventures has co-led a series A investment round for DeepDrive, a German start-up producing dual-rotor electric motors, which promise more range, less material use, and a lower production cost than current state-of-the-art motors. With the investment, DeepDrive wants to start a recruitment drive leading to mass production in 2026. Other […]
March 22, 2023
The port of Ghent (North Sea Port) and shipping company DFDS have joined forces. Together, they have inaugurated a new freight train connection to transport 8 000 containers annually to and from Lyon. Now, there is a new multimodal connection between Sweden, Belgium, and France. Freight train operator Lineas will initially run the train three […]
March 22, 2023
Are affordable electric cars finally making their way into the market? A few days ago, we reported the wish of VW CEO Thomas Schäfer to have a sub € 20 000 BEV, the ID.1. In an interview with the British car magazine Autocar, car manufacturer Citroën’s chief designer Pierre Leclercq claims to be readying a […]
March 22, 2023
They have been working silently since 2016 in the Turkish part of Cyprus on their own electric car, named after the professor whose dream was to become a car manufacturer: the Günsel brand. On February 20, 2020, the first prototypes of the fully electric Günsel B9, a two-door hatchback, were launched. Now the company says […]
March 22, 2023
Brussels Airlines and sister airlines Lufthansa and Swiss are going to the Council of State against the new system of variable airfares at Brussels Airport. The new fares will take effect on 1 April. The airlines’ appeal is against the Terminal Navigation Charges elaborated by Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo). The charges, which must be […]
March 22, 2023
Kia has unveiled a new concept car, the Concept EV5, which resembles the recently introduced electric SUV EV9. This more compact model previews a production model later this year, initially destined for the Chinese market. Kia seems to have found some confidence in its bold styling, first introduced with the EV6 and most recently with […]
March 22, 2023
Morris Commercial, the UK-based automotive engineering and manufacturing start-up, has completed a funding round, securing new investment for producing the Morris J-Type, a small van initially produced in the 1950s. The tiny ID. Buzz’s rival was to hit the road in 2021 but has yet to make it to production. The new launch date is […]
March 21, 2023
Forget the Explorer as you know it, Ford is replacing it with a new zero-emission version. Its first volume all-electric passenger vehicle to be built in Cologne, Germany, spawns from an agreement with Volkswagen. Bottom line? The medium crossover is the technical twin to the Volkswagen ID.4. So, the new Explorer is fully electric and […]
March 21, 2023
If it were up to Audi, we would all have a flowerpot in our car. That is why the premium car brand introduces the ‘car plant’, an absolute first for the renewed Audi Q8 e-tron. With this innovation, Audi responds to the needs of almost one in four car owners (24%) who would like to […]
March 21, 2023
The Walloon parliament’s commission has approved the majority’s proposal for a substantial reduction in the road tax on motorhomes and campers. Taxes had risen sharply following the entry into force of the Walloon decree for a ‘fair tax’. The approved proposal by the PS-MR-Ecolo majority envisages setting the motorhome road tax at 40% of the […]
March 21, 2023
To keep global warming below 1,5°C, greenhouse gas emissions must go down immediately. This means no more greenhouse gases may be released than can be restored or removed from the atmosphere. That is the alarming conclusion of the latest report of the IPCC, the climate panel of the United Nations. “The most important message is […]
March 21, 2023
Polestar has unveiled the Chinese version of its Polestar 3 SUV, which also gets a significantly lower price than what was first announced during the global model reveal. Meanwhile, the brand is launching a new sporty BST version of the Polestar 2. When the Polestar 3 was first revealed to the world, the Swedish-Chinese brand […]
March 21, 2023
In February 2023, the EU passenger car market continued to perform well, growing by 11,5% to 802 763 units, according to the data of the European car manufacturers association ACEA. However, it is essential to note the low base of comparison due to the semiconductor shortage crisis at the beginning of 2022. Most EU markets […]
March 21, 2023
The sector federation on inspection centers GOCA Flanders counted 22 914 inspections ‘on location’ last year. These were inspection lines for trucks and buses on the site of large companies, where inspectors go to the customer instead of the other way around. The project to have larger vehicle fleets inspected on-site quickly and efficiently was […]
March 21, 2023
German provider Miles Mobility landed on Tuesday in Antwerp with a fleet of 100 shared cars, all VW Polos and Audi to start. After Ghent, its Belgian introduction, Miles started running a fleet of 100 Opel Corsa models in the capital. With three footholds in Belgium now, one-way trips between the three cities and the […]
March 21, 2023
Volkswagen has just given the details of its ID. 2 with a base price of € 25 000; now it seems that it is planning an even smaller and, more importantly, cheaper car, the ID.1, starting at under € 20 000 and coming in 2027. The German specialized car magazine Automobilwoche spoke to VW brand […]
March 20, 2023
How could urban mobility in Brussels evolve by 2050? That is the million-dollar question of Remobilise, a research project of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). The researchers drew four possible future scenarios and are now considering policy recommendations in workshops to tackle everyday mobility challenges. “The future does not always develop as we expect. The […]
March 20, 2023
DAF Trucks has raked in a significant order for 1 500 trucks, among which at least 75 fully electric LF and XD trucks, for the British truck rental and leasing company Asset Alliance Group (AAG). With the electric trucks besides the diesel versions, AAG wants to attract new customers in a fast-evolving market for e-trucks, […]
March 20, 2023
Mobility is a basic right, but for (partially) blind people, the road is, unfortunately – literally – littered with obstacles. That is why the Braille League wants to raise awareness about mobility among blind and visually impaired people. The organization, therefore, has organized a large-scale survey among about 700 respondents and is repeating its sensitizing […]
March 20, 2023
The Mazda Motor Corporation announced last Friday that its Board of Directors has proposed that Masahiro Moro will become President and CEO. He succeeds Akira Marumoto, who has led the global Mazda business since 2018. Jeffrey Guyton will be the new CFO. Moro (62) joined the company in 1983. Before he took over his current […]
March 20, 2023
According to a Reuters report, Volkswagen plan to invest in mining with its subsidiary PowerCo to ower EV battery costs. Many car makers have preferential contracts with raw material suppliers in their pockets. Still, the German carmaker wants to go one step further and go directly to the source by absorbing mining activities in its […]
March 20, 2023
Harley-Davidson has finally opened reservations for the One electric motorcycle from its LiveWire sub-brand. It will cost around €25 000 and will initially be available in Europe, with deliveries starting in April. The LiveWire One is initially launching in just four European countries: Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the UK. No Belgian pricing or launch […]
March 17, 2023
Suppose we want all new cars sold beyond 2035 in Europe to be zero-emission. In that case, it will be crucial for the EU to become more independent in mining, refining, and recycling critical raw materials like lithium, of which 21 times more will be needed. That’s only one out of a list of +30 […]
March 17, 2023
Flemish public transport operator De Lijn continues to face a shortage of drivers. For example, of the 356 drivers De Lijn recruited in 2021, almost a quarter had already left before the end of 2022. So for this year, De Lijn has to look for 900 new drivers all over Flanders. In general, you can […]
March 17, 2023
The French oil and gas concern TotalEnergies sells all its gas stations in Germany and the Netherlands – almost 1 600 – to Alimentation Couche-Tard, the Canadian multinational operator of convenience stores, offering a wide variety of products for people on the go. In Belgium and Luxembourg, TotalEnergies is the market leader with 619 gas […]
March 17, 2023
Tesla is putting the bricks into place to ramp up production in its Grünheide facility, close to Berlin, to 1 million cars annually. An environmental application has been filed to double the permitted output of today. Currently, the German plant churns out 4 000 units of Model Y per week. But according to the original […]
March 17, 2023
In its Antwerp hub, DHL Belgium took delivery of its first batch of electric vans. It’s the first step in the company’s goal to deploy an entire zero-emission fleet by 2030. The choice for the Ford e-Transit is no coincidence. DHL was a partner during the product development phase. The hundred zero-emission e-Transit models won’t […]
March 17, 2023
Lithium de France, a subsidiary of the French group Arverne, has raised 44 million in funds for the explorations to build its first well. The company, based in Bischwiller (Bas-Rhin), near Strasbourg, will develop two synergistic projects around geothermal heat and green lithium in northern Alsace. The two main investors in the fund Equinox Ventures, […]
March 17, 2023
At Audi AG’s annual media conference, CEO Markus Duesmann and CFO Jürgen Rittersberger addressed the key financials for the 2022 fiscal year and focused on strategic decision-making, holistic sustainability, and the upcoming model initiative. Markus Duesmann: “Even here in Germany, we are feeling the impact of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine quite directly […]
March 16, 2023
BMW plans at least six model launches within 24 months for the ‘New Class’ electric cars from 2025 onward. To this end, additional plants are to be converted for the production of these electric cars. More concrete information on the platform and the first models will be available in September. Electric cars based on the […]
March 16, 2023
Eight out of ten young people in Flanders are in favor of zero tolerance for alcohol behind the wheel. Almost 17% do not support such a proposal. That is what a survey by mobility organization VAB revealed. Earlier this month, the European Commission proposed a total alcohol ban for new drivers. Novice drivers should not […]
