Transport Malta has launched a substantial grant scheme for the purchasing of new electric vehicles, including pedelecs, motorcycles and quadricycles, as well as cars and vans.
As part of a broader programme to incentivise uptake of electric vehicles, funds are being allocated by the Maltese goverment’s transport authority for the purchase of new electric vehicles, and for the scrappage of old vehicles.
Grants for light electric vehicles
Under the scheme, a grant of €500 is available against the purchase of pedelecs, and €2,000 against cargo pedelecs, mopeds and motorcycles (but not more than 80% of the retail price). Tricycles, quadricycles and heavy quadricycles are eligible for 25% of CIF (Cost, Insurance, Freight value), with the grants for this category starting at a minimum of €2,000 and capped at €6,000. The grants apply to new vehicles only.
Scrappage grants
People can also take advantage of the government’s vehicle scrappage grant, which pays up to €500 for mopeds or motorcycles. There are certain conditions which apply: the scrapped vehicle must be at least 10 years old on the date of scrappage; it must be licensed with Transport Malta before scrappage, or the purchase of a new vehicle; it must be destroyed at an authorised demolition facility, and a valid destruction certificate dated between 2024 and 2025 must be obtained.
A statement from Transport Malta said, “The scheme aims at reducing the number of older conventional motor vehicles from the road […] The grant will remain available until the 31st of December 2025 or until the budgeted funds are exhausted.”
The necessity of urgently addressing the optimisation of LEV charging solutions was addressed at the 9th edition of ETAuto Conclave in New Delhi.
The urgent need to optimise charging solutions for light electric vehicles (LEVs) was a key topic at the 9th edition of the ETAuto Conclave, held in New Delhi on December 11-12, 2024. As LEVs continue to gain global traction due to their sustainability and efficiency, the industry faces significant challenges in developing effective charging infrastructure that accommodates diverse regional requirements and fosters global standardisation.
At the event, Kevin Ng, Chief Strategy Officer and Group Vice President of Chogori Technology, underscored the importance of adapting to the evolving LEV landscape. He highlighted that charging infrastructure varies widely across regions, reflecting differences in LEV adoption rates, vehicle types, and local policies.
Importance of meeting regional needs
One key consideration is addressing regional charging needs. For example, battery swapping has emerged as a popular solution in India and China, offering quick turnaround times for users and catering to the demands of motorcycle taxi drivers in Africa. Local infrastructure plays a critical role as well. In Southeast Asia and Africa, extreme weather conditions necessitate the use of waterproof connectors designed for durability and resilience. Meanwhile, Europe and Japan are seeing the development of fast-charging infrastructure, often equipped with connectors that support higher amperage to meet growing demand.
Standardisation challenges
However, the absence of global standardisation remains a notable hurdle. While some regions have adopted Type 6 and Type 7 connectors, a universally accepted standard has yet to be established. This fragmentation requires charging providers to supply solutions tailored to each market while simultaneously contributing to efforts aimed at creating global standards.
Ng acknowledged this dynamic, stating, “We don’t set any of these standards. We just work on supporting the market and the customers based on what they need us to do”
His comments reflect the industry’s balancing act between meeting immediate market demands and promoting long-term standardisation.
As the global LEV market continues to expand, the evolution of charging infrastructure will be critical to supporting increased adoption. Standardisation, in particular, is seen as essential to creating a more streamlined and efficient path to global mobility. By addressing both regional needs and universal requirements, the LEV industry is poised to drive sustainable growth and innovation.
Comments Off on LEVA-EU: The Competitiveness Compass must unlock the competitiveness and economic potential of the European LEV industry
LEVA-EU welcomes the European Commission’s publication of its Competitiveness Compass, which provides a clear strategic framework to guide its work in the coming five years.
As the only trade association in Europe that works exclusively for light electric vehicles (LEV), LEVA-EU identifies with the Commission’s goal to “nurture Europe’s innate strengths, harness its resources and remove the barriers at European and national level.”
We fully agree that “Europe must be the place where tomorrow’s technologies, services, and clean products are invented, manufactured and marketed, as we stay the course to climate neutrality.”
We strongly believe that light electric vehicles are the cornerstone of sustainable urban mobility, vital in achieving the EU’s climate and competitiveness goals. Yet our 65 member companies are facing too much regulatory uncertainty and undue administrative burden to be able to invest and innovate.
Like what the European Commission will soon embark on with the automotive industry, LEVA-EU seeks a dialogue with the Commission to address similar challenges around “innovation and leadership in future technologies, clean transition and decarbonisation, access to globally competitive inputs and security of supply, labour and skills, global fair trade and competition, regulatory streamlining and implementation and boosting of demand.”
Notably absent in the Compass, we request the Commission to fulfil its 2024 recommendation to propose an LEV regulatory framework that brings all LEV segments under a harmonised regulation, in consultation with the LEV industry.
LEVA-EU shares the opinion that trade is a key driver for Europe’s prosperity. But its pursuit to reduce dependency should not turn into protectionism that cuts off the necessary supplies that our companies currently need to grow and innovate. We feel that priority should be placed on Member States to strengthen their market surveillance capacity to prevent illegal products from entering the EU.
We laud the Commission’s plan to remove barriers to the Single Market and make standard-setting processes faster and more accessible, in particular for SMEs and startups. We add that many of our members are SMEs, and current regulatory requirements and standardisation processes do not cater to their rapid innovation cycles. This has resulted in innovative LEV solutions not being able to be brought into the market.
As mentioned in the Compass, “the window of opportunity is narrow.” We look forward to working closely in the coming months with the Commission, the Parliament and Member States to unlock the inherent competitiveness and economic potential of the European LEV industry.
On 26-27 April 2025, the Spezialradmesse Spezi event will be held for the third time in Lauchringen, Germany.
Its organizers, led by Gabriel Wolf, have announced some new improvements and have opened ticket sales with a discount promotion.
New improvements that build on the success of its previous event
Since its move from the German town of Germersheim, the Spezi has been a successful event in Lauchringen, which welcomed approximately 6,000 visitors and 90 exhibitors last year.
The Spezialradmesse Spezi’s press release states that its 2025 event promises to be a great meeting for enthusiasts of innovative mobility solutions, where attendees can discover and test great products.
“The feedback from both exhibitors and visitors was very positive,” said Gabriel Wolf, describing the previous show. Although the organizers conclude that it was a great success, they did see room for improvement to make Spezi 2025 even better.
One of these improvements will be on the test trail, which more than 3,000 people rode on at Spezi 2024. To make it smoother for the forthcoming show, two pedestrian crossings will have been removed to help ensure a steadier flow of visitors.
Additionally, the fair will be more international, with French association Aveli showcasing innovative Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs), that bridge the gap between bicycles and cars.
Ticket sales with discount promotion
The first batch of tickets are currently on sale, with the promotional offer of half price weekend tickets, taking the prices down from €20 to €10.
More information and tickets can be accessed here.
Cross-border talks for Scotland to join the next round of e-scooter trials.
Scotland is preparing for its first-ever electric scooter rental trial within the next nine months, according to Voi, England’s largest e-scooter operator. Discussions are underway between the Scottish Government and the UK government to join an expanded initiative. Voi, which manages two-thirds of the 20+ trials currently operating in England, highlighted that this new phase would allow Scottish councils to finally explore e-scooter use—four years after the initial trials were introduced by the former Conservative government.
Current legal status of e-scooters in Scotland
At present, only e-scooters involved in English rental trials are allowed on public roads. In Scotland, e-scooters remain illegal on roads and pavements but are permitted on private property with the owner’s consent. Despite this, they are legally available for purchase and have become increasingly common in many areas north of the Border.
UK Transport Secretary Louise Haigh recently suggested that private e-scooter legalisation could happen in the future, though not before next year. In a similar vein, Scotland’s Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop remarked in May that such changes are inevitable.
Legislative challenges and council interest
For Scottish councils to participate in upcoming trials, legislative amendments are required. Glasgow and Midlothian councils have expressed interest in hosting rental schemes, but progress has been delayed due to the absence of enabling legislation. Glasgow City Council noted that it had agreed to a trial back in 2020 but is still awaiting legislative approval from Transport Scotland. Similarly, Midlothian Council reiterated its readiness for a trial, pending funding and regulatory changes.
Transport Scotland, the government’s transport agency, confirmed it is in talks with the UK Department for Transport (DfT) to evaluate potential participation. The City of Edinburgh Council also expressed interest in learning from trials elsewhere but emphasized that meaningful progress is dependent on legislative clarity.
Voi’s vision for e-scooter expansion in Scotland
James Bolton, Voi UK’s general manager, stated that Scotland is a key focus for the company in the coming year. He expressed enthusiasm about collaborating with Scottish cities, noting significant interest from local authorities. Bolton highlighted that e-scooter trials in England over the past four years have demonstrated substantial benefits, such as reducing car trips and shifting travel patterns—a goal aligned with Transport Scotland’s target of cutting car travel by 20% by 2030.
Bolton also addressed safety concerns, emphasizing that serious accident rates have fallen by over 70% since the trials began. According to him, e-scooters are now as safe as bicycles, bolstered by data from Voi’s operations in 17 English cities, including London, Liverpool, and Oxford, where 1.8 million riders have completed 40 million trips.
A missed opportunity and renewed optimism
Although Scotland missed the opportunity to participate in the initial e-scooter trials, there is renewed optimism that a rental scheme could become operational on Scottish streets within the next nine months. This development could mark a significant step forward in sustainable transportation for the region, helping reduce car dependency and providing a new, eco-friendly travel option for Scottish commuters.
Comments Off on LEVA-EU Assesses PMD-Report for Commission: Valuable Recommendations and Serious Flaws
LEVA-EU welcomes the report published by TRL and fka, at the request of the European Commission, regarding the need for harmonised rules for so-called Personal Mobility Devices (PMDs). The report formulates four regulatory options, with the fourth option being the development of a universal approval system for all PMDs. LEVA-EU also welcomes that this fourth option is recommended as “the solution which would provide the greatest benefit with the least disruption.“
A separate technical regulatory framework for all so-called PMDs is a solution that LEVA-EU has pursued since its inception. Unfortunately, the researchers elsewhere in the report, undermine this solution by adding other illogical and inconsistent proposals to the fourth option.
Contradictory proposals
For example, they believe that Electrically Pedal Assisted Cycles (EPACs) should remain within their current legal framework and only later be included in the proposed new PMD framework. The only reason they provide for this is that the current rules for EPACs are working. They do not mention that this specific EPAC-legislation prevents any other solutions for electric bicycles beyond pedal assistance limited by speed (25 km/h) and maximum continuous power (250 W).
These other solutions are now completely impossible because they fall under Regulation 168/2013. The reality clearly shows that type approval for these vehicles is unsuitable, as to date, no vehicles in this category, particularly L1e-A, are on the market. The call in the report to keep EPACs in their current legal framework is also directly contradicted by the researcher’s finding that “If both speed and acceleration are regulated, motor power is not relevant to the performance of the machine in any meaningful way.” Why they think that speed and acceleration should be regulated for some PMDs, while others should still have a motor power limit, is not explained in the study.
Vital threat to heavy carrier cycles
Another potentially very threatening proposal is to bring carrier cycles with a maximum permitted mass of more than 250kg under the L-category. By the way, there is no manufacturer of these vehicles listed among the stakeholders who provided feedback! If this plan is implemented, it would immediately spell the death of these types of vehicles, as they would be unable to comply with the technical rules of the L-category!
It is also particularly painful that this study was released to the press just as we, together with many other experts, were working in TC 333 – WG9 on the final European standards for carrier cycles. This has required a great deal of effort and hard work from a large group of people over five years. The fact that the study dismisses all that work with one stroke of the pen, and without further argumentation, is, to say the least, painful.
While fka and TRL were conducting their research into so-called PMDs for DG Grow, another department of the Commission, DG Move, was working on recommendations for future urban transport. Two historic recommendations were officially adopted, recognising Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) as a separate vehicle category that warrants distinct technical requirements. These recommendations appear to have been overlooked by the researchers. LEVA-EU will urge the Commission to ensure that all decisions regarding technical legislation for LEVs (referred to as PMDs in the report) are made with due regard to these recommendations.
On December 9, the report will be officially presented to the Motorcycle Working Group. LEVA-EU will listen attentively and, after the presentation, will formulate an extensive position on this research.
Comments Off on TRL and fka Publish Final Report on Harmonised Rules for Personal Mobility Devices (PMD), Ordered by EU Commission
Despite the proliferation of new types of personal mobility devices (PMDs) coming to the market in recent years, no harmonised European regulations govern their technical characteristics beyond the general requirements contained in the Machinery Directive/Regulation. This PMD-project, undertaken by fka and TRL on behalf of the European Commission, was aimed at investigating whether creating a harmonised European PMD regulation would be feasible and desirable. The key objectives of the work were to:
Develop a classification of existing PMDs to determine groups of devices and common criteria based on design elements,
Undertake a detailed analysis of the market share and rise of the various PMDs to determine those that would most benefit from EU-wide rules,
Undertake an analysis of available data and information on crashes involving PMDs,
Assess the impact on market development of the fragmented pieces of legislation in terms of both technical and road traffic rules across the EU
Develop regulatory options for common technical safety design requirements on the basis of the obtained classification and interlinks with existing pieces of EU legislation.
A range of investigative methods were employed including stakeholder engagement with representatives from the PMD industry, regional and national regulators and road safety organisations, a review of national and European collision data and research, and a review of relevant European and national regulations and standards.
Four regulatory options were proposed:
Do nothing
Amend Regulation (EU) No 168/2013 to bring PMDs within its scope
Develop a bespoke approval system for specific groups of PMD
Develop a universal approval system for all PMDs
Of these, option 4 is recommended as the solution which would provide the greatest benefit with the least disruption.
While Electrically Power Assisted Cycles (EPACs) are a type of PMD, they already have a system of European and national regulations that are functioning effectively and are therefore least in need of a new European regulatory system. While they could be included in a universal approval framework this should be considered as a later step once the system is functioning effectively for those PMDs which currently lack effective harmonised regulations.
The PMD industry is highly innovative and is quickly developing novel PMD concepts. With this in mind, no rigid classification system is proposed, instead it is proposed to separate PMDs from L category vehicles based on speed (max 25km/h) and mass (maximum 250kg laden). No power limits are proposed, but instead a maximum acceleration limit of 2m/s2 under all load conditions would apply.
Technical requirements are proposed for: • Maximum permitted mass • Payload • Structural integrity • Battery safety • Stability and controllability • Speed regulation • Maximum acceleration • Braking • Lighting • Audible warning devices • Anti-tampering • Electromagnetic compatibility • Moisture ingress
A graduated approval scheme is proposed in which manufacturers could undertake much of the required testing themselves provided they met requirements for quality assurance requirements. It is foreseen that market surveillance will be required to ensure that products placed on the market are safe and of adequate quality. The need for market surveillance is unlikely to be affected significantly by the regulatory option chosen.
Comments Off on Join LEVA-EU now for Membership ’til end 2025
LEVA-EU Membership is usually valid for one year from the date that you confirm your affiliation. However, the LEVA-EU board has decided to apply 1 November as a cut-off date for next year’s membership. If you join between 1 November and 31 December 2024, your membership will run until 31 December 2025.
Read up on why you should become a member of LEVA-EU here. You will find full details on what we do under “What We Do” in the top menu of the homepage.
To apply for membership, simply complete and send the online form here or contact LEVA-EU Manager Annick Roetynck for more details or an introductory meeting: annick@leva-eu.com
We hope we will have the pleasure of welcoming you as a LEVA-EU Member soon!
The LEVA-EU Team, Annick, Bram, Eddie, Dennis, Willow and Bruno
Comments Off on ICBF organisers reflect on impactful 2024 edition in Utrecht
The organisers of the International Cargo Bike Festival (ICBF) are looking back on a successful 2024 edition. The event, which took place for the first time in the world-renowned cycling city of Utrecht, the Netherlands on the 25th and 26th October, attracted a diverse range of exhibitors. Alongside the expo and test track, visitors were also treated to a jam-packed programme discussing topics relevant to cargo bikes, with panels and speakers drawn from across the globe, plus several side-events. Also striking was the number new products or even brands unveiled at the ICBF. Yet more exhibitors made their Netherlands debut at the show, with ICBF attendees the first to experience these new developments up close. With the introduction of zero-emission zones from 1 January 2025, these developments are more relevant than ever.
Networking
With free entry on offer, around eight hundred visits were made to ICBF 2024 across the two expo days. The event drew together the cargo bike industry’s top innovators, experts, and enthusiasts, as well as policymakers and both dealers and every-day users of cargo bikes. Networking was also high on the agenda, with 200 people using matchmaking tool ‘Conversation Starter’ to connect with other attendees and schedule appointments.
More quality, more impact
“For those familiar with larger shows like Eurobike and Velofollies, our visitor numbers may seem modest by comparison,” explains ICBF Co-organiser Tom Parr “but they reflect a dedicated and highly engaged audience focused specifically on cargo bikes. Our approach has always been different. What matters to us are quality and impact; not quantity. And by making sure exhibitors and visitors can interact in a relaxed environment, the result for both is a higher quality level of contact. Real conversation, real connection, building those all-important relationships. This allows exhibitors to explain their offerings and listen to visitors’ needs, while visitors feel heard and informed; making them more likely to buy the cargo bike or accessory that fits their requirements. It’s win-win, and often makes more actual impact.”
“Our communications also support this approach”, adds Parr. “By constantly engaging with our audience online, they show up to the ICBF clued-up and inspired. In other words, they already know what questions to ask. That online engagement also means that the brands we work with also get a lot of exposure to the people who can’t make it to the show.” And with exhibitors reporting several bikes sold from the expo floor at ICBF 2024, it’s a blueprint that seems to work.
Plenty of ideas for 2025
“A lot of people also mentioned the high quality of the exhibitors, attendees, speakers and panel discussions this year”, says ICBF Director Jos Sluijsmans. “When we reflect on the 2024 edition, what lingers most of all is the positive atmosphere at the event; something that we ourselves greatly value.”
Sluijsmans points to the changes made for the 2024 edition – returning to a standalone event; two expo days instead of three; free visitor entrance; and a new venue – saying that they are based on direct feedback from previous years. “Several exhibitors told us that they noticed we have really listened to them”, explained Sluijsmans. “We do our best to incorporate their opinions when we make improvements the ICBF. We don’t just organise the show for ourselves; it is for the manufacturers, speakers, visitors and ultimately to create better cities for all.”
“It’s our job now to go away, evaluate and come back even better next year. We already have lots of ideas for 2025, but more importantly, we will be asking both exhibitors and visitors to tell us what they think worked and what could be improved. In the meantime, Tom and I would like to thank the exhibitors, speakers, moderators, and behind-the-scenes contributors – they know who they are. Without them, ICBF 2024 wouldn’t have been able to happen. We’re grateful to them all.”
LEVA-EU Session on Standardisation
LEVA-EU actively participated in the ICBF with a well-attended booth and an informative session on standards for electric cargo bikes. This was the second of four standardization sessions that LEVA-EU is organizing this year in collaboration with SBS. Those who missed the previous sessions at Eurobike and ICBF can still attend on either November 28 or December 13, both at 9 AM. These sessions will last two hours and will take place online. They will cover standardization not only for electric cargo bikes but for all light electric vehicles. LEVA-EU will soon launch online registration for these two meetings, but you may want to mark these dates in your calendar already.
Campaign success
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Member profile
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