Elon Musk hands over first 'made in Germany' Teslas

Yahoo – AFP, Florian CAZERES, March 22, 2022

Elon Musk tweeted "Danke Deutschland!" (Thank you, Germany) after inaugurating
Tesla's first production site in Europe (AFP/Patrick Pleul)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk danced for joy at the inauguration of his "gigafactory" electric car plant near Berlin on Tuesday, shrugging off two years of bureaucracy and delays to watch customers drive off with the first Model Y vehicles made in Europe. 

"Danke Deutschland!" (Thank you, Germany) Musk tweeted after the red ribbon ceremony, where he joined workers in applauding the first 30 drivers to get behind the wheel of their new cars. 

The US billionaire even broke into a little dance during the handovers, reviving memories of the slightly awkward jig he did at a launch event in Shanghai in 2020 that lit up the internet. 

The factory opening caps an arduous two-year approval and construction process that saw Tesla run into a series of administrative and legal hurdles, including complaints from locals about the site's environmental impact. 

Having started construction at its own risk, Tesla finally won the formal go-ahead from regional authorities to begin production earlier this month. 

The "gigafactory" in Gruenheide, in Germany's eastern state of Brandenburg, is Tesla's first production site in Europe and local officials are hoping it will help the region position itself as a hub for electric vehicle production. 

The Californian company aims eventually to employ some 12,000 workers at the site who will churn out around 500,000 Model Y cars annually, the firm's all-electric, compact SUVs. 

"We are extremely confident that the world can transition to a sustainable energy future with the combination of solar, wind, plus battery storage and electric vehicles," Musk said in a speech at the ceremony. 

"I really want to assure everyone that you can have hope in the future, you should have hope in the future," he added. 

'New era' 

Tesla's arrival is expected to jolt Germany's flagship car industry, setting the stage for fierce competition with rivals Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz as they pivot from traditional engines to cleaner electric vehicles. 

"The new era in the auto industry has now arrived in Germany," said analyst Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer from the Center for Automotive Research. 

Tesla's focus on Europe comes as the continent grapples with sky-high energy costs that have sent petrol prices soaring, prompting some drivers to take a closer look at electric alternatives. 

The "Giga Berlin-Brandenburg" is "one of the biggest strategic endeavours for Tesla over the last decade and should further vault its market share within Europe over the coming years as more consumers aggressively head down the EV path," analysts at investment firm Wedbush said. 

But Tesla has not been spared the pain from shortages of key materials and supply chain disruptions, linked in part to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, that are also plaguing other carmakers. 

Musk tweeted last week that the company was seeing "significant recent inflation pressure" in raw materials and logistics. 

Away from Russian oil 

Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who attended Tuesday's inauguration along with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said it was "a special day for Germany's mobility transformation". 

In a nod to efforts to reduce reliance on Russian energy, Habeck said electric cars took Germany "one step further away from oil imports". 

He also called for more "Tesla speed" in other infrastructure projects, including the expansion of renewable energies. 

Although Musk was frequently frustrated by the red tape that slowed down his Gruenheide plans, by German standards the factory was up and running in record time. 

The inauguration was not universally welcomed, however, with environmental campaigners protesting near the site. 

Among their demands was a call for better and free public transport instead of "yet more cars", said spokeswoman Lou Winters from the Sand in the Gears environmental group.

Hertz orders 100,000 Tesla electric autos

 Yahoo – AFP, October 25, 2021

Hertz announced it will buy 100,000 autos from Tesla by the end of 2022
(AFP/SCOTT OLSON)

Hertz announced Monday an order to buy 100,000 autos from Tesla by the end of 2022 in the latest embrace of electric car technology by the auto industry. 

The car rental giant, which emerged from a bankruptcy reorganization earlier this year, said the electric vehicles (EV) would be available "in US major markets and select cities in Europe" beginning in early November, according to a Hertz press release. 

Hertz is also installing EV charging stations at its locations. 

"Electric vehicles are now mainstream, and we've only just begun to see rising global demand and interest," said interim Hertz Chief Executive Mark Fields. 

"The new Hertz is going to lead the way as a mobility company, starting with the largest EV rental fleet in North America and a commitment to grow our EV fleet." 

Hertz exited the US Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in June, a little more than a year after filing to reorganize its finances as the coronavirus pandemic devastated the travel industry. 

However, with the global economy reopening in the wake of Covid-19 vaccines, the car rental market has revived and rental companies are renewing their fleets. 

Led by Elon Musk, Tesla has been ramping up production rapidly by increasing output at existing factories and building new plants in Germany and the US state of Texas. 

In the last year, conventional automakers like General Motors and Volkswagen have also announced significant new EV plans. 

With the current order, EVs will comprise 20 percent of Hertz's global fleet. The company will have EV chargers in around 65 markets by the end of 2022 and more than 100 markets by the end of 2023, Hertz said.

Liberty flying car cleared for road use, talks ongoing for aviation permit

DutchNews, October 28, 2020 

Photo: Pal-V

A flying car developed by Dutch company Pal-V has been cleared for use on the Dutch roads by vehicle licensing agency RDW. 

Work started on designing the Liberty in 2012 and it has now passed stringent road admission tests allowing a prototype to drive on public roads for further trials.

‘We have been cooperating with the road authorities for many years to reach this milestone,’ chief technical officer Mike Stekelenburg said. 

‘The excitement you feel in the team is huge. It was very challenging to make a “folded aircraft” pass all road admission tests. The trick in successfully making a flying car is to ensure that the design complies with both air and road regulations.’ 

Work on winning aviation certification with the European safety agency Easa started in 2015 and the company expects to get the green light in 2022. 

‘Over 1200 test reports need to be completed before the final 150 hours of flight testing can take place. After this the deliveries to customers will start,’ the company said in a statement. 

The Liberty is a two-seater vehicle which converts in five to 10 minutes into a gyrocopter, which can land and take off vertically in a small space. 

According to the Financieele Dagblad, some 30 people in the Netherlands have already ordered and paid for a flying car, at a cost of €499,000 each. Owners must also pass their flying certificate to be able to use the vehicle in the air.

€30m spend on charging points aims to get electric car sales moving

DutchNews, July 8, 2020 

A charging station in Amsterdam. Photo: DutchNews.nl 

Despite the government, provinces and local councils announcing a €30m investment in a comprehensive network of electric car charging points, car buyers are still wary, Trouw reports. 

An estimated 1.7 million electric charging points will be needed to keep a projected 1.9 million electric vehicles moving by 2030. This is the target in order to meet limits for traffic pollution set out in the country’s climate accord. 

The new €30m will go towards choosing locations and preparing them for large-scale charging, including of electric buses and taxis. However, Trouw claimed, no agreement has been reached yet on locations and who will carry out the installation. 

‘Not everyone has room for a charging point in front of their homes,’ a traffic ministry spokesman told the paper. 

The government and provincial authorities reportedly do not want the job of installing the charging points to fall completely to network operators but prefer tenders from companies which would install them quickly and in bulk. Local authorities are also considering measures such as ‘smart charging squares’ in carparks or supermarkets, according to the paper. 

But Trouw reports that ‘charging fear’ is proving to be a brake on the government’s ambitions, with people reluctant to purchase an electric car because they fear they will be stranded without a charging point in sight. 

A projected new subsidy for the purchase of second hand electric cars could make electric driving more attractive to a broader public outside the ‘bubble’ of the very wealthy, the paper said.

Tesla value hits $100 bn, triggering payout plan for Musk

Yahoo – AFP, January 22, 2020

Tesla chief Elon Musk, during the delivery ceremony for the firm's China-made
Model 3 in Shanghai in January 2020 (AFP Photo/STR)

New York (AFP) - Tesla's market value hit $100 billion for the first time Wednesday, triggering a payout plan that could be worth billions for Elon Musk, founder and chief of the electric carmaker.

Shares in Tesla rose some 4.8 percent in opening trade to extend the gains in the value of the fast-growing maker of electric vehicles.

Under a compensation plan approved by Telsa's board in 2018, Musk is to be paid in stock awards based on the value of the company, which could be worth as much as $50 billion if Tesla reaches $650 billion.

Musk agreed to the plan, which would pay him nothing until Tesla's value reached $100 billion.

The package, using shares which "vest" based on certain criteria, gives Musk stock worth around one percent of the company for each of 12 milestones over a 10-year period.

For achieving the first milestone, Musk will get shares worth $346 million if Tesla shares hold above $100 billion over six months, based on the formula.

In announcing the plan in March 2018, the company said Musk "would receive no guaranteed compensation of any kind -- no salary, no cash bonuses, and no equity that vests simply by the passage of time" without the rise in value.

In 2019, Tesla sold some 367,000 vehicles, a rise of 50 percent from the prior year.

That is a fraction of the 10 million sold by leading global automakers Toyota and Volkswagen, but investors have pushed up Tesla's value in the expectation that it is changing the industry.

Tesla has begun manufacturing in China and has announced a new plant in Germany that could start production by 2021.

The Tesla Model 3 electric car is designed to be more affordable than its earlier models -- around half the cost of the $70,000 models -- and is fueling expectations of stronger growth.

Analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities offered an upbeat view of Tesla in a research note Wednesday.

"In our opinion, the company has the most impressive product roadmap out of any technology/auto vendor around (which the market cap reflects vs. its traditional auto competitors) and will be a 'game changing' driving force for the EV (electric vehicle) transformation over the next decade with Model 3 front and center," Ives said.

More pain for German car industry as Daimler axes 10,000 jobs

Yahoo – AFP, Michelle FITZPATRICK, November 29, 2019

Electric shock to jobs: the costly switch to electric vehicles is pushing carmakers
to shed jobs, with Mercedes-maker Daimler become the latest on Friday with a plan
 to cut at least 10,000 posts in the coming years (AFP Photo/Miguel MEDINA)

Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - Luxury automaker Daimler said Friday it would scrap at least 10,000 jobs worldwide, the latest in a wave of layoffs to hit the stuttering German car industry as it battles with a costly switch to electric.

The Mercedes-Benz maker said it wanted to save 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in staff costs by the end of 2022 as it joins rivals in investing huge sums in the greener, smarter cars of the future.

"The total number worldwide will be in the five-digits," Daimler personnel chief Wilfried Porth said in a conference call about the job cull.

He declined to give a more detailed breakdown.

The group said in an earlier statement that "thousands" of jobs would be axed by the end of 2022, after clinching a deal with labour representatives.

The cull includes slashing management jobs "by 10 percent", Daimler said, reportedly amounting to some 1,100 positions around the world.

"The automotive industry is in the middle of the biggest transformation in its history," Daimler said.

"The development towards CO2-neutral mobility requires large investments," it added.

Along with other manufacturers, Daimler is scrambling to get ready for tough new EU emission rules taking effect next year, forcing it to accelerate the costly shift to zero-emissions electric cars and plug-in hybrids.

The group, which employs 304,000 people globally, said the job cuts would be achieved through natural turnover, early retirement schemes and severance packages.

Fewer parts needed

Daimler's announcement comes as the mighty German car industry is buffeted by trade tensions, weaker Chinese demand and a darkening economic outlook.

Other major car companies have in recent months already unveiled plans to cut some 30,000 jobs in the sector over the next years.

Germany's Audi said it wants to axe 9,500 jobs, followed by more than 5,000 at Volkswagen, some 5,500 at car parts supplier Continental, while Bosch aims to cut more than 2,000 roles.

US car giant Ford plans to scrap some 5,000 jobs in Germany alone.

Electric engines require fewer parts and are less complicated to assemble than internal combustion engines, needing fewer hands.

But auto bosses have said thousands of new, hi-tech jobs will also be created in the electric era to make cars more autonomous and connected.

German automotive expert Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer has said he believes the German car sector -- which currently employs 800,000 people -- will shed 250,000 jobs over the next decade.

A total of 125,000 new ones will be created, he predicted.

Daimler returned to profit in the third quarter and said it was expecting 2019 revenues to be "slightly above" last year's, while operating profit would be "significantly below" the 11.1 billion euros in 2018.

Adding to Daimler's woes this year were expensive recalls linked to faulty Takata airbags and to diesel cars allegedly fitted with software to dupe emissions tests.

While the company has staunchly denied cheating, it nevertheless agreed to pay an 870-million-euro fine in Germany for having sold vehicles that did not conform with legal emissions limits.

Promise and peril for German carmakers in Tesla's Berlin touchdown

Yahoo – AFP, Florian CAZERES with Yann SCHREIBER in Frankfurt, November 13, 2019

Tesla would be the first foreign car company to set up shop in Germany
"in decades" sector analyst Stefan Bratzel says (AFP Photo/John THYS)

Hopes are high that US electric pioneer Tesla's first European factory just outside Berlin will boost German carmakers, but it also ups the pressure on homegrown manufacturers to raise their battery-powered game.

Elon Musk's Tuesday announcement that his Californian firm is coming marks the first foreign car company setting up shop in Germany "in decades," said analyst Stefan Bratzel of the Center of Automotive Management -- "symbolic for the new world and the reordering of the industry."

Economy minister Peter Altmaier trumpeted "a great success," saying Germany had prevailed in "intense competition" with other European countries.

Musk unveiled Tesla's European touchdown at an industry event in Berlin, saying he had picked a site in Brandenburg for the factory, which is expected to bring roughly 7,000 jobs.

Slated for an area southeast of the German capital, the plant "will build batteries, powertrains and vehicles, starting with Model Y" SUVs, Musk later tweeted.

Production is to start in 2021 at the earliest.

"I think it's a good thing, it will create jobs and electric cars are good for the environment," said Mathias Wirth, who lives in Gruenheide, set to host the Tesla plant.

"It's a big opportunity for people living here," agreed fellow resident Iris Siebman.

Musk said the German state of Brandenburg offers "a lower than average paid workforce

 in the former East Germany" and space to expand (AFP Photo/Tobias SCHWARZ)

'Pressure on the Germans'

Tesla accounts for almost one in three electric vehicles sold in western Europe, and worldwide sales of its Model 3 have already overtaken those of BMW's 3 Series sedans, although "German sales remain disappointing", according to analyst Matthias Schmidt.

Electric vehicles more broadly have fallen short of ambitions, with Chancellor Angela Merkel this year targeting one million on the road by 2022 -- two years later than she had previously aimed for.

"Elon Musk's decision in favour of Germany... adds more momentum to electric mobility than 100 summits called by the chancellor," said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, head of the University of Duisburg-Essen's Center for Automotive Research.

"Competition has always made people better and faster, so it's good news for Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler too," he added.

But there is also no doubt Musk's move "puts pressure on the Europeans and the Germans," said Christoph Schalast, professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.

German giants are behind in adapting fleets to meet new European emissions limits, and have left it until late to commit to electric drive in a big way.

In the near term, bosses "won't be losing too much sleep, but the danger is if they wait too long with their own credible electric vehicle offerings, they may begin to lose some of their credibility," analyst Schmidt said.

A German car industry source told AFP they were relaxed about Tesla's announcement, hoping the competitor's arrival would accelerate the country's electric transition.

Elon Musk hailed hailed "outstanding" German engineering as a factor in his 

choice of a site near Berlin (AFP Photo/Jörg Carstensen)

'Made in Germany'

On stage Tuesday, Musk hailed "outstanding" German engineering as one factor playing into the choice for Berlin.

The capital can lend "creativity" and English-speakers, "the engineering and programming hipsters," while Brandenburg offers "a lower than average paid workforce in the former East Germany" and space to expand.

But Schmidt warned the Californian risks running into "bureaucratic hell" in Germany, with Musk's new site just a few kilometres (miles) from the Berlin-Brandenburg airport.

The planned hub is almost a decade behind schedule, largely down to problems with its fire suppression system.

Even without such dramatic delays, Tesla is unlikely to throw together a factory in the one year its new Chinese site required.

Work is to start in early 2020 with a budget of several billion euros (dollars), Brandenburg's economy minister was quoted by the news agency DPA as sayin

Daytime speed limit to be slashed to 100 kph to cut pollution: NOS

DutchNews, November 12, 2019 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons 

The cabinet is planning to cut the maximum speed limit to 100 kph nationwide between 6am and 7pm, in an effort to cut nitrogen-based pollution, sources have told broadcaster NOS.

 Higher speed limits of 120 kph and 130 kph would be allowed at night – on roads which currently have the higher speed limit, ministers are set to announce Wednesday. 

Ministers hope that cutting the speed limit will compensate for the extra pollution generated by the construction industry – particularly of new homes. A large number of building projects have been put on hold after the Council of State ruled current measures to reduce nitrous oxide and ammonia pollution are insufficient. 

Prime minister Mark Rutte has declined to confirm the speed limit cut, but says he aims to present the package of measures on Wednesday morning. 

Also on the table is a plan to add enzymes to cattle feed so they produce less ammonia in their manure, NOS said.

Ministers outline the government’s plans. Photo: Phil Nijhuis / HH

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“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Dutch inventors roll out river plastic clean-up barge
Ocean Cleanup move to the Pacific, ‘a milestone’ says Dutch inventor

Photo: The Ocean Cleanup

Toyota boosts presence in Poland on Brexit woes: media

RTL – AFP, 28 October 2019

'Brexit confusion' may have helped swing the decision Poland's way / GETTY
IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Toyota said on Monday that it would boost production of components for hybrid vehicles at its plants in EU member Poland, with local media reporting the choice of location was underpinned by uncertainty over Brexit.

Toyota Motor Europe said it would invest 140 million euros ($155 million) in Poland to increase production at its hybrid-oriented plant in the southwestern city of Walbrzych, according to a Monday statement.

"High interest in this (hybrid) technology in Europe, confirmed by rapidly growing sales, which now already amount to over 50 percent of the total volume of orders for Toyota models, resulted in the decision to locate two further investments in our Polish factory," Toyota said in a Monday statement.

Toyota chose Poland for its only other hybrid production and development facility outside Japan, it added.

Although the company made no reference to the challenges it faces in Europe posed by Brexit, Polish media were quick to underline that uncertainty over the terms of Britain's withdrawal from the EU meant the company chose not to expand production at its plants in the UK.

Several Polish media sources said that Toyota had initially planned to expand production at its Deeside engine plant in Britain, but changed its mind over concerns linked to Brexit.

"Although Toyota does not want to comment on this, the increase in investment in Poland was also affected by the confusion associated with Brexit," wrote Puls Biznesu, a leading Polish economic daily, on Monday.

Plans call for the new investment in Poland to be completed by 2022, giving Toyota's two plants in Poland the capacity to produce some 309,000 hybrid engines per year.

The engines are destined for Toyota, PSA and Lotus assembly lines in the Czech Republic, Britain, France, Turkey and Russia, as well as in South Africa and Japan.

European alliance to invest up to 6 bn euros in electric car batteries

Yahoo – AFP, May 2, 2019

EU political leaders have long called for a coordinated effort for homemade batteries
that would free carmakers from relying on China (AFP Photo/Manjunath Kiran)

European governments and companies will form an alliance for developing next-generation batteries for electric vehicles, investing five to six billion euros ($5.6 to $6.7 billion) in the project, the French and German finance ministers said Thursday.

France's Bruno Le Maire said a maximum of 1.2 billion euros in public subsidies would be granted to the alliance, at a press conference with his German counterpart Peter Altmaier.

"Other member states have already expressed interest in joining this project," Le Maire said, including Italy, Belgium, Poland, Austria and Finland.

He said at least four billion euros would come from private companies, citing automaker PSA and the French battery maker Saft, a unit of French oil giant Total.

"Today we are seeing more interest than ever" in the project, Altmaier said, adding that 35 companies had already pledged to sign up, including Europe's biggest automakers.

Political leaders across the European Union have long called for a coordinated effort for home-made batteries that would free carmakers from having to rely on Chinese batteries as the industry shifts away from combustion engines.

A pilot factory with around 200 employees will be opened in the coming months in France, with a goal of opening two production sites, in France and Germany, that would generate 1,500 jobs at each.

European automakers have been ramping up electric vehicle production after years of scandals over diesel pollution and as tougher rules on cutting carbon emissions come into force.

But EU carmakers buy cells from foreign manufacturers, mostly in Asia, which they use to build the high-capacity batteries needed to power electric vehicles.

Germany and France in particular have been pushing for a pan-European consortium to develop new battery technologies that would be built domestically, along the lines of the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

Related Article:

Dutch firm agrees €1.6bn battery plant in China during premier’s visit

Dutchman ends 'world's longest electric car trip' in Australia

Yahoo – AFP, April 7, 2019

Wiebe Wakker took just over three years crossing 33 countries in his 95,000 km
journey by electric car (AFP Photo/PETER PARKS)

Sydney (AFP) - A Dutchman completed an epic 95,000 kilometre (59,000 mile) journey by electric car in Sydney Sunday in a bid to prove the viability of such vehicles in tackling climate change.

Wiebe Wakker drove his retrofitted station wagon nicknamed "The Blue Bandit" across 33 countries in what he said was the world's longest-ever journey by electric car.

The trip from the Netherlands to Australia took just over three years and was funded by public donations from around the world, including electricity to charge the Bandit, food and a place to sleep.

Wakker drove across a variety of countries and environments including Turkey, Iran, India, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia, with the route determined by the offers he received on his website.

"I wanted to change people's opinions and inspire people to start driving electric by showing the advantages of sustainable mobility," Wakker said.

"If one man can drive to the other side of the world in an electric car, then EVs (electric vehicles) should definitely be viable for daily use."

Wakker said before the car was modified, it would have used 6,785 litres (1,800 US gallons) of petrol to complete the journey.

The modified vehicle can travel 200 kilometres on a single charge, with Wakker saying he spent just US$300 on electricity, much of it in the remote desert Outback of Australia.

China's Hainan province to end fossil fuel car sales in 2030

Yahoo – AFP, March 6, 2019

Beijing announced plans in 2017 to phase out petrol vehicles across the

nation (AFP Photo/STR)

China's southern Hainan island will end sales of fossil fuel-only cars in 2030, officials said, becoming the first province to announce a target end date for a transition away from gas guzzlers.

Beijing announced plans in 2017 to phase out petrol vehicles across the nation, but it did not set a date, as the country aims to cut pollution and reduce its dependence on imported oil.

Starting in 2030, sales of fossil fuel cars will be prohibited in Hainan, the provincial government said Tuesday, with officials saying they aim to hit President Xi Jinping's goal for the island to become a "civilised ecology test zone."

Known as China's Hawaii thanks to its resorts and tropical beaches, Hainan is set to become the country's largest free trade zone.

It also hopes to serve as a test area for some of Beijing's ambitious policies like fostering hi-tech industries and attracting international tourist dollars.

China remains at the forefront of the electric car revolution, with hundreds of homegrown electric automakers sprouting and ample government subsidies to push consumers into new energy vehicles.

New energy vehicles include fully electric cars, as well as plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles, the government said.

Hainan will start its replacement policy by requiring 100 percent of retired government cars, public buses and taxis to be replaced with new energy vehicles. That will then extend to tourist buses, rental cars and light trucks.

The government said the ban on private fossil fuel vehicles will ensure consumers replace gas guzzlers with greener cars by 2030.

It also laid out plans to build a larger electric charger and fuel cell filing network.

BMW, Daimler to invest 1 bn euros in joint carsharing scheme

Yahoo – AFP,  February 22, 2019

BMW CEO Harald Krueger and Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche announced the
 plan to combine their companies' carsharing schemes on Friday (AFP Photo/
John MACDOUGALL)

Berlin (AFP) - German auto giants BMW and Daimler said Friday they would invest one billion euros ($1.1 billion) in combining and extending their carsharing schemes DriveNow and Car2Go, in future offering a slew of "mobility services", including for electric cars.

"We are pooling the strength and expertise of 14 successful brands and investing more than one billion euros to establish a new player in the fast-growing market for urban mobility," Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler said in a statement.

The two high-end manufacturers will organise their "mobility" businesses around five joint ventures.

Customers will be able to book shared cars, hail rides from taxis and chauffeur services, find and pay for parking spots and electric car charging points and plan "multimodal" journeys -- pulling in alternatives like public transport and bike rentals.

All five strands will follow BMW's naming scheme with titles like Park Now and Charge Now.

"These five services will merge ever more closely to form a single mobility service portfolio," BMW CEO Harald Krueger said.

Still further in the future, the two firms will offer "an all-electric, self-driving fleet of vehicles that charge and park autonomously and interconnect with other modes of transport," he added.

BMW and Daimler's carsharing and other services like Park Now or MyTaxi today boast a combined 60 million customers, the companies said.

The new joint venture will be based in German capital and tech industry hub Berlin, and create "up to 1,000" jobs worldwide, they added.

The Biro is a car and should be on the road, magistrates say

DutchNews, January 28, 2019

Photo: DutchNews.nl

A magistrate’s court in Amsterdam has ruled that the Biro, a small electric car, will no longer be classed as a vehicle for the disabled but as a moped, thereby banning it from the city’s cycle paths, the Parool reports. 

The decision was announced in a tweet by the infrastructure ministry, which, the paper says, had long been annoyed at the disabled label which effectively gave Biro drivers the right to drive and park anywhere they liked. 

The vehicle is not dissimilar to the Canta, which is meant for people with mobility problems. It is mainly popular with the well-heeled in the south of the city but its use has given rise to complaints about them blocking access to pavements. 

Pascal van den Noort of cycle advise bureau VeloMondial welcomed the news. ‘The decision means the Biro is really a car and as such it can no longer park on the pavement or drive on cycle paths. It is allowed on the roads and will have to pay for parking,’ he told the paper. 

Traffic alderman Sharon Dijksma said she hoped the decision would lead to better policing but that much remained unclear. ‘This is a magistrate’s court decision and it is not in writing so we don’t know what it is based on. We will talk to the public prosecutions department and the junior infrastructure minister,’ the paper quotes her as saying. 

The Biro ban is the latest move in an effort to establish a clear pecking order on the country’s cycle paths. In December last year Amsterdam announced that slower mopeds, known as a snorfiets in Dutch, will be banned from some of the city’s cycle lanes from next April and Utrecht is bringing in a similar ban at the end of the next year.

Uber ups taxi driver age from 18 to 21 after Amsterdam accidents

DutchNews, January 21, 2019

Uber has agreed to raise the age for taxi drivers in the Netherlands from 18 to 21 following the involvement of company drivers in several fatal accidents in Amsterdam in recent weeks.

In addition, the agency will only accept drivers with at least a year’s experience, broadcaster AT5 said. Drivers under the age of 25 will also have to undergo a compulsory course in road safety, organised by the road safety organisation VVN. 

Last week, the VVN sounded the alarm about the accidents, telling the Telegraaf that Uber drivers should not be allowed on the roads unless its drivers conform to normal taxi regulations. 

‘What has happened is terrible,’ Uber Nederlands head Thijs Emondts told AT5. ‘We are convinced that the measures we are taking today will remove some of the concerns about safety.’ 

The company is also setting up a task force together with Amsterdam council officials to look at the accidents involving Uber drivers. In addition the company is looking at the option of controlling the taxi app which drivers use by speech recognition. 

AT5 points out that none of the fatal accidents involved young drivers. The company already operates a 21 age limit in other countries, including Belgium, Britain and Denmark.