Author Archives: Annick Roetynck

About Annick Roetynck

• LEVA-EU Information Meeting at Eurobike: LEV-topics on EU -agenda

  27/07/2021 09:18 Comments Off on LEVA-EU Information Meeting at Eurobike: LEV-topics on EU -agenda

  On Thursday 2 September, LEVA-EU organizes an Information Meeting about the current hot topics on the EU-agenda:

  1. Review of technical legislation for E-Bikes and all other LEVs
  2. State of play in standardization for E-Bikes, E-Cargocycles and Personal Transporters
  3. EU proposal for a new battery Regulation
  4. COP26

  Due to COVID-measures, only 15 people are allowed in the meeting room. We therefore offer 3 sessions of 45 minutes, each consisting of ½ hour presentation by Annick Roetynck and ¼ hour Q&A. The meetings are free for LEVA-EU Members. Non-Members pay an entrance fee of € 100 per person. Should you join within 3 months following the meeting, we will deduct that amount from the membership fee.

  Tickets for the Information Meeting must be booked in advance on the following website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/163881376609

  Should you wish to book a 1/2 hour appointment with LEVA-EU Manager, Annick Roetynck, go to: https://leva-eu.com/come-and-meet-leva-eu-at-eurobike-2021/

  We are really looking forward to seeing you!

  Annick Roetynck,
  LEVA-EU Manager

• Obsessing over electric cars is impeding the race to net zero: More active travel is essential

  26/07/2021 10:48 Comments Off on Obsessing over electric cars is impeding the race to net zero: More active travel is essential

  Source: University of Oxford – Globally, only one in 50 new cars were fully electric in 2020, and one in 14 in the UK. Sounds impressive, but even if all new cars sold were electric, it would still take 15-20 years to replace the world’s fossil fuel car fleet.

  Christian Brand, Associate Professor in Oxford’s Transport, Energy & Environment, Transport Studies Unit, writes.

  • Focusing solely on electric vehicles is slowing down the race to zero emissions.
  • Even if all new cars were fully electric, it would still take 15-20 years to replace the world’s fossil fuel car fleet.
  • Emissions from cycling and e-biking can be ten times lower than driving an electric car.
  • Active travel can contribute to tackling the climate emergency earlier than electric vehicles while providing affordable, reliable, clean, healthy and congestion-busting transport.

  The emission savings from replacing all those internal combustion engines with zero-carbon alternatives will not feed in fast enough to make the necessary difference in the time we can spare: the next five years.

  Tackling the climate and air pollution requires curbing all motorised transport, particularly private cars, as quickly as possible.

  Focusing solely on electric vehicles is slowing down the race to zero emissions. This is partly because electric cars are not truly zero-carbon. Mining the raw materials for their batteries, manufacturing them and generating the electricity they need for fuel produces emissions.

  Transport is one of the most challenging sectors to decarbonise because of its heavy fossil fuel use and reliance on carbon-intensive infrastructure – such as roads, airports and the vehicles themselves – and the way it embeds car-dependent lifestyles. One way to reduce transport emissions relatively quickly, and potentially globally, is to swap cars for cycling, e-biking and walking – active travel, as it is called.

  As many as 50% of car journeys are less than five km and could easily be replaced by active travel. Electric bikes increase this range to 10 km or more. They have become more popular over the past few years as prices have come down. These bikes allow older people to cycle and help riders cycle in hilly areas. But they still provide physical activity. In the Netherlands and Belgium, electric bikes have become popular for long-distance commutes of up to 30 km. They could be the answer to our commuting problems.

  Active travel is cheaper, healthier, better for the environment, and no slower on congested urban streets. So how much carbon can it save on a day-by-day basis? And what is its role in reducing emissions from transport overall?

  In our own research, colleagues and I show that people who walk, cycle or use e-bikes have lower carbon footprints from all their daily travel, including in cities where lots of people are already doing this. Despite the fact that some walking and cycling happens on top of motorised journeys instead of replacing them, more people switching to active travel would equate to lower carbon emissions from transport on a trip-by-trip and daily basis.

  What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours

  In one study, we observed around 4,000 people living in the cities of London, Antwerp, Barcelona, Vienna, Orebro, Rome and Zurich. Over a two-year period, our participants completed 10,000 travel diary entries, which served as records of all the trips they made each day, whether going to work by train, taking the kids to school by car or riding the bus into town. For each trip, we calculated the carbon footprint.

  Strikingly, the carbon footprint for daily travel is up to 84% smaller for people who walk or cycle than for people who use other modes of transport.

  We also found the average person who shifted from car to bike for just one day a week cut their carbon footprint by 3.2kg of CO₂ – equivalent to the emissions from driving a car for 10km, eating a serving of lamb or chocolate, or sending 800 emails.

  We found  emissions from cycling can be more than 30 times lower for each trip than driving a fossil fuel car, and about ten times lower than driving an electric one.

  While public policy tends to focus on commuting, trips for other purposes such as shopping or social visits are also often done by car. These trips are often shorter, increasing the potential for a shift toward walking, cycling or e-biking.

  E-cargo bikes can carry heavy shopping and/or children and can be the key ingredient needed to make the shift to ditching the family car.

  The rest of the article is here: https://bit.ly/3iywm3h.

  Photo by Divjot Ratra on Unsplash.

• Taito raises funding

  08:43 Comments Off on Taito raises funding

  LEVA-EU Member Taito is developing a three-wheeled e-scooter for which safety, quality and design are central. This is in response to the proliferation of e-scooters that offer poor driving comfort and are difficult to repair. The 3 young, Belgian founders have finished the first prototypes of their e-scooter and want to realize the first sales in the rapidly growing market of e-scooters at the beginning of 2022.

  Taito has previously obtained funding from business angels and subsidies from the Flemish Innovation & Enterprise Agency. Now the company wants to collect loans from the crowd to further invest in research & development, sales & marketing and the pre-financing of the e-scooters. Through their campaign on WinWin, they raised almost € 20,000 in the first week.

  Further details on https://invest.winwinner.be/nl/projects/234-taito

• Like LEVA-EU, JRC advocates new, separate battery category for Light Electric Vehicles

  22/07/2021 16:24 Comments Off on Like LEVA-EU, JRC advocates new, separate battery category for Light Electric Vehicles

  JRC has completed its study for the European Commission on alternative collection targets for Light Means of Transport (LMT) batteries. JRC concludes that the best way forward is to introduce a new separate category for LMT batteries. That is exactly the solution, which LEVA-EU has been advocating since the Commission has published the new battery Regulation proposal. The JRC report is therefore a major boost for LEVA-EU’s lobby campaign towards the European Parliament and Council.

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  In its original proposal, the European Commission suggested to include batteries for so-called Light Means of Transport (LMT) in the portable battery category. The proposal defined LMT-batteries as sealed, up to 5 kg and for use in vehicles with a seat and a motor of no more than 750 Watts. All other batteries, such as those in electric scooters, mobility scooters, e-mopeds, e-motorcycles and other electric vehicles in the L-category would be categorized as electric vehicle batteries.

  Hugely problematic proposal

  LEVA-EU immediately pointed out to the Commission that this definition would create huge problems for light, electric vehicles (LEVs). The main issue is the fact that the electric vehicle battery category is subject to information and sustainability requirements, which are simply not feasible for LEV-manufacturers. Another issue was the requirement for a seat, pushing all e-scooters into the electric vehicle battery category. Also, the limit of 750 Watts was meaningless because the meaning of Watts remained unspecified.

  On top of these issues, the Commission was also confronted with questions from the Member States on the effect of the proposal on LMT. The Commission acknowledged the issues and asked the Joint Research Centre (JRC) for research into how to set a collection target for LMT batteries. JRC is the Commission’s science and knowledge service, which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to EU policy.

  Unknown and uninteded consequence

  In its research and through consultation with stakeholders, among which LEVA-EU, JRC easily established that the definition of LMT batteries as proposed by the Commission was flawed. The definition was found to be “troublesome in its reference to motors ‘of less than 750 watts’. It is found to be problematic in referencing to ‘on which travellers are seated’ with a significant amount of smaller LMT products without a seat. Both types of parameters effectively discriminate between products with comparable battery characteristics.”

  However, there were deeper issues with the Commission’s proposal to classify LMT-batteries as portable batteries. The proposal holds collection targets for portable batteries based on the so-called Put on Market (PoM) parameter. The JRC-study was exactly meant to determine whether that method and the targets set for portable batteries could be simply extended to LMT-batteries or whether alternative collection methods and targets for LMT-batteries were needed.  In its research on collection targets for LMT batteries, JRC stumbled upon an “unknown and unintended consequence of the originally proposed target basis”.  JRC’s conclusion on the proposed PoM-method and resulting targets for LMT-batteries was: “(…) due to increasing sales of rechargeable and LMT batteries, plus potentially more durable primary batteries as well, there will be a growing discrepancy between the placed on the market (POM) volumes and the waste volume becoming available later. This means that the currently proposed POM based collection target, based on 3 preceding years of sales, will not be ‘steadily ambitious’, but relatively more challenging for the years 2025 and 2030 when the newer target levels are respectively set at 65% and 70%. Reversely, in later years it will become less challenging.”

  Growing discrepancy

  The following example illustrates JRC’s findings. According to some prognoses, European electric bike sales could reach 17 million in 2030. In that year, the PoM collection rate will go to 70% based on the 3 preceding years. Hypothetical sales of 13.25 million in 2027, 14.5 million in 2028 and 15.75 million in 2029 would result in 10.15 million e-bike batteries targeted for collection in 2030. Let’s assume an average lifetime for e-bike batteries of 6 years. That means that the batteries becoming available for collection will effectively be put on the market in 2024. Sales in 2020 were estimated at 4.5 million. It is therefore totally unlikely that in 2024 sufficient sales will be achieved to reach a collection target of 10.15 million batteries in 2030. Even if sales reach 10 million in 2024, it is impossible for 100% of those  batteries to make it to the collection points.

  To overcome this problem, JRC proposes what it calls a “future-proof solution”. That includes the creation of a separate LMT battery category, next to industrial, automotive, electric vehicle and portable battery categories. Secondly, the basis for the collection target for this new category should be changed from Put on Market (PoM) to Available for Collection (AfC).

  All batteries from non-type-approved light, electric vehicles as well as from L1 to L7 vehicles would come under the new category. This proposal is almost fully in line with what LEVA-EU has asked for from the start. Nevertheless, JRC proposes to include all LEV-batteries but only up to 25 kg. It is unclear how JRC has determined this 25 kg limit, which would still send heavier L-category vehicle batteries, for instance on motorcycles, tricycles or quadrimobiles into the electric vehicle battery category.

  Benefits

  JRC quotes several benefits in creating a separate LMT battery category. First of all, it would allow the inclusion of heavier batteries, “that would otherwise not fit in the collection infrastructure for portable batteries.” Secondly, JRC states that 70% of AfC by 2025 and 75% by 2030 will be a much more realistic target for LMT waste batteries. Changing to AfC will require a revision clause in the Commission’s proposal to adapt the common methodology parameters and potentially also the target level specifically for the new category. LEVA-EU believes that the AfC calculation methodology must be adapted to the lifespan of the various vehicles in the category. The lifespan of an e-scooter for instance is different from the lifespan of an electric bike. It will also require specific consideration for batteries which are not returned through this collection infrastructure. There will undoubtedly be some hoarding to be taken into account, as well as batteries which will be treated for re-use for instance. Furthermore, all vehicles excluded from the L-category are subject to the WEEE-Directive. It is quite likely that some batteries will not be removed from end-of-life vehicles.

  Another benefit of JRC’s proposal is that the creation of a separate LMT battery category will allow for faster introduction of more collection points and will improve the handling and the safety attention for end-of-life batteries. And last but not least, JRC points out that the creation of a separate LMT category offers an additional possibility to adapt other than collection requirements, such as sustainability, safety and information requirements, “to the distinctive character of LMT batteries.” In doing so, JRC agrees with LEVA-EU’s request not to simply subject LEV batteries to the particularly extensive and strict requirements for electric vehicle batteries. Instead, the EU institutions should consult with the LEV-sector as to appropriate and adequate requirements. Ideally, the Commission should order new research into such requirements.

  Confusion in Parliament

  In the meantime, even before this JRC report was published, 3 parliamentary committees had started working on the original Commission proposal. Normally, only 1 parliamentary committee is responsible for a file. In this case, the work was entrusted to IMCO, ITRE and ENVI while TRAN was allowed to issue an opinion. Since, the IMCO and TRAN Rapporteurs and the ITRE committee have effectively proposed amendments. As a result, a particularly confusing situation has now arisen for LMT batteries, with diverging amendments for the same articles in the proposal. LEVA-EU will resume lobbying after the summer break to try to align all relevant parliamentary committees with JRC’s recommendations for LMT batteries.

• Call for Life Cycle Assessment Results of Light Electric vehicles

  19/07/2021 17:00 Comments Off on Call for Life Cycle Assessment Results of Light Electric vehicles

  LEVA-EU in an alliance with the International Cargo Bike Festival and other partners representing the light electric mobility sector are commissioning expert research for the global COP26 climate conference. The research will be aimed at modelling what transport will look like if we succeed in meeting the Paris Agreement emissions commitments for transport. This will involve dramatic increases in the prevalence and use of light electric vehicles (LEVS), from e-scooters and e-(cargo)-cycles, through e-mopeds and motorcycles to 4-wheeled e-vehicles across all the EU L-category and what is excluded from this category.

  As part of this work, we are in need of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) figures for every category of these vehicles, many of which are not publicly available.

  Do you have a systematic analysis of the potential environmental impacts of your LEVs during their entire life cycle, or do you know of LCA results that others have available? Would you be willing to share them to contribute to this ground-breaking research, which will for the first time advocate the case for universal light mobility to a global audience? It would be extremely useful to receive LCA figures or suggestions of where these can be found. We will be able to use them on a named vehicle or, if desired, on an anonymous basis.

  The research will feature details on emissions from the various categories, and there will be opportunities to showcase specific vehicles and manufacturers both in publicity and in the final scientific report, to be launched in the run up to COP26 in Glasgow this November.

  If you can help, please get in touch with LEVA-EU Manager, Annick Roetynck, tel. +32 475 500 588, email annick@leva-eu.com.

  Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

• Come and Meet LEVA-EU at Eurobike 2021

  16:57 Comments Off on Come and Meet LEVA-EU at Eurobike 2021

  The forthcoming Eurobike Show will offer the first opportunity to meet in person since the start of the COVID-crisis. Book a 30 minutes bilateral meeting at the LEVA-EU booth or join us for our Information Meeting on Thursday.

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  How can your company benefit from LEVA-EU membership and how much will it cost? Can LEVA-EU answer all your questions on EU rules and regulations for electric bikes and all other light, electric vehicles (LEV)? Could LEVA-EU’s network offer your business interesting opportunities?

  Find out by booking an appointment with LEVA-EU Manager, Annick Roetynck, and/or LEVA-EU Technical Director, Bram Rotthier. At Eurobike, we have a quiet booth on the first floor of the Congress Centre West, where we can discuss your questions over a cup op coffee. The booth is on the first floor of Congress Centre West.

  To directly book an appointment, please click here: https://calendly.com/annick_leva-eu/eurobike-meeting?month=2021-09

  On Thursday 2 September, at Eurobike, LEVA-EU organizes an Information Meeting about the current hot topics on the EU-agenda. For further details on this Information Meeting, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/163881376609

  We are really looking forward to seeing you!

  Annick Roetynck,
  LEVA-EU Manager

• SBS-Survey to identify key areas of standardisation for SMEs

  07/07/2021 11:19 Comments Off on SBS-Survey to identify key areas of standardisation for SMEs

  SBS launched a study at the end of 2020 to identify key areas of standardisation for SMEs spanning the next five years. Both European and international standards cover an extremely broad range of goods and services, and the number of standards being developed or revised is growing every year. The study will assist SBS in focussing its activities on standardisation areas that have been identified as especially relevant and strategic from the SME perspective.
  
  As a part of this effort, SBS has developed a questionnaire to be completed by SMEs to assist in prioritising sectors and topics of particular SME relevance. The deadline for submission of the questionnaire is 15 July 2021. The questionnaire is available in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish here

• COP26 – Light Electric Vehicles – Urgent call for Emissions Research

  28/06/2021 16:55 Comments Off on COP26 – Light Electric Vehicles – Urgent call for Emissions Research

  The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference. It is scheduled to be held in the city of Glasgow from 1 to 12 November 2021 under the presidency of the United Kingdom. This Conference is an unmissable opportunity to draw attention to what light electric vehicles can contribute to the fight against climate change. In this framework, LEVA-EU launches the following urgent call for research.

  Task: model the micromobility future

  The emissions case for the mass adoption of electric vehicles has been made, repeatedly and in detail. Some transport emissions modelling exercises have begun to include cycling as a factor. Few however have modelled the effect of recent mass adoption of e-bikes. To our awareness, none have incorporated the possible effect of optimal adoption of light mobility across the full range of vehicle sizes and categories. For LEVA-EU, light mobility includes all vehicles in the L-category as defined by Regulation 168/2013, as well as all vehicles excluded from the L-category as listed under Article 2.2 of the said Regulation.

  This call for research requests a rapid emissions modelling exercise to be completed for COP26 (11/21) to characterise a truly zero emission transport future, at least for the majority of journeys which are short, in the developed and developing world, currently using motor cars.

  If we place ourselves in the year 2030, and assume we successfully decimated transport emissions, while maintaining our mobility, what does the fleet look like? Which vehicles are we using and for which journeys? How, in emissions terms, did we get there?

  Time and resources

  This study needs to be completed by the end of September in order to allow aligned and targeted public documentation to be formulated, as well as a PR strategy for use in the run-up to COP26, te ensure the conclusions are communicated to Conference delegates, governments and media.

  To bring global credibility, it is felt that whilst the core modelling exercise will need to be undertaken by a small group with experience in the field, it would carry additional credibility if a consortium of authors representing all continents and major (emitting) countries acted as reviewers and co-signatories of this work.

  Deliverables

  The main deliverable for this commission is an interactive spreadsheet model of mobility as it needs to be in 2030 for the Paris Agreement emissions reductions scenario to have been met, primarily through a major modal shift away from the majority of short, slow and local journeys being taken by full-sized ICE vehicles to those journeys completed instead in sub-500 kg vehicles.
  A second deliverable is an accessible, interactive ‘data visualisation’ tool for decision makers, building on the model, that permits them to explore scenarios and self-educate as to why light mobility is the most expedient and least expensive solution to true zero emission personal and light goods transport.

  Are you interested in carrying out the study? Are you interested to review and/or co-sign? Please contact LEVA-EU Manager, Annick Roetynck, tel. +32 475 500 588, annick@leva-eu.com. The deadline for expression of interest is Friday 16th July.

  Funding opportunities

  This research will be part of a wider initiative aimed at encouraging research into different aspects of light, electric vehicles. Also, LEVA-EU will be working to facilitate networking between LEV-researchers. This initiative will create interesting and attractive funding opportunities (sponsorship). If you are already convinced of the need to invest in LEV-research and how research can help your business grow and prosper, please contact Annick Roetynck for further details.

• EP & Council Deal on Motor Vehicle Insurance

  16:27 Comments Off on EP & Council Deal on Motor Vehicle Insurance

  The Motor Vehicle Insurance Directive has been under review for more than 3 years. The Commission presented the European Parliament and the Council with a proposal on 24 May 2018. This included widening the scope of the Directive to also cover a number of light, electric vehicles. Parliament and Council have now finally reached an agreement, which is not fully in line with the Commission’s proposal.

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  The Commission’s proposal to widen the scope caused a fear that electric bicycles with pedal assistance up to 25 km/h-250W would also end up in the Directive. In all Member States, they currently have the same status as conventional bikes. Therefore, they are not subject to a motor vehicle insurance. In some member states, e-cyclists are covered by the insurance of the motorised vehicle involved in the accident, irrespective of whether the driver is at fault. Inclusion in the Motor Vehicle Insurance Directive would also have annulled this so-called no-fault-liability.

  The situation for vehicles without a seat, such as e-scooters, and self-balancing vehicles was less clear. Some countries do impose a motor vehicle insurance, whilst a few others, such as Belgium, don’t.

  Parliament and Council have now reached a deal, which clarifies the scope of the Directive. The revised law will apply to vehicles in the L-category, thus not to vehicles excluded from the L-category. Excluded vehicles are among others electric bicycles 25 km/h-250w, e-scooters, monowheels and other self-balancing vehicles, e-hoverboards, … as well as vehicles exclusively intended for competition.

  The most important consequence of the decision is that vehicles without a seating position an self-balancing vehicles will no longer be subject to a motor vehicle insurance obligation, whilst they currently are in several member states. Also, the deal is an official endorsement for the exclusion of electric bikes 25 km/h-250W. Other types of vehicles, such as L1e-A powered cycles and speed pedelecs are subject to motor vehicle insurance.

  However, the Directive still has a clause that allows Member States to exclude certain vehicles from the Directive. Belgium, for one, has been using that clause to exclude both L1e-A powered cycles and speed pedelecs. It is unclear whether under the revised Directive Belgium will continue to apply the clause to speed pedelecs or make them subject to a motor vehicle insurance after all. The ambiguity has recently become even greater due to a judgment by the Belgian Constitutional Court. The Court has ruled that both speed pedelecs and e-scooters must be subjected to a motor vehicle insurance obligation. However, the Belgium government has not yet acted on that ruling. How all this will ultimately turn out with the revised Directive remains to be seen.

  LEVA-EU is of course delighted with the certainty that the deal now offers for electric bicycles with pedal assistance up to 25 km/h – 250 W. However, it is a pity that the opportunity has not been seized to also exclude L1e-A powered cycles. These vehicles produce exactly the same kinetic energy as the excluded e-bikes. There is therefore no reason whatsoever to subject one category to motor vehicle insurance and not the other. This is yet another proof that the L- category is an unsuitable framework for these vehicles.

  LEVA-EU is pleasantly surprised by the exclusion of, in particular, electric scooters. Given their low kinetic energy, it is the right decision not to subject them to motor vehicle insurance. LEVA-EU hopes this will contribute to the further development of e-scooters as a sustainable mode of transport. Finally, the revision of the Directive has clearly shown the need for a separate technical legal framework for light electric vehicles. This can then be used as a basis to tailor all associated legislation specifically to LEVs. Only then will the LEV-market really come to full bloom.

  Photo by Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash