BELGIUM. Charging infrastructure for the port of Antwerp, almost 2 out of 3 Dutch people want to drive electric

Port of Belgium to acquire charging station site for heavy vehicles

Milence, the joint venture between Daimler Truck, Volvo Group and the TRATON GROUP, has been selected by Port of Antwerp-Bruges to build 2 modern charging stations at the ‘Goordijk’ and ‘Ketenis’ truck parks. Milence is currently developing the largest public charging network for electric trucks in Europe. The aim is to open the charging stations in the Antwerp port area in May 2024. It concerns a total of 30 charging stations. This number will be further increased in a second phase of development. The 2 charging stations will initially be equipped with 15 powerful CCS (Combined Charging System) chargers with a charging capacity of more than 400 kilowatts. Milence is also planning a rapid transition to the Megawatt Charging System (MCS) technology as soon as it becomes available.

Natural Yachts expands electric boat product line

Natural Yachts is further expanding its successful zero-emission line of electric Northman motor yachts and Maxus sailboats. Family-owned Natural Yachts will expand again in 2024 with electric boats for sale and rental. At the beginning of 2023, the innovative boat company moved to Marknesse/Vollenhove due to the growth of the company. At this centrally located location next to the Waterloopbos and with a view of the Kadoelermeer, interested parties can get acquainted with the 100 percent electric boats. After the electrically powered Nexus Revo 870 Electric – a 9-metre cabin cruiser – and the larger 6-seater Northman 1200 Electric, Natural Yachts launched the Northman 1050 Trawler Electric last September. The new electric flagship is a Trawler motor yacht with a spacious interior and innovative technology. In addition to the electric motorboats, the sailboat range currently consists of the Maxus Evo 24 Electric, Maxus 26 Electric and the Maxus 34 Electric.

2 out of 3 Dutch people want to drive electric Research by Autoverzekering.nl did show that almost two-thirds of the Dutch (65.7 percent) would like to drive electric, but still think the purchase price of electric cars is too high. Also despite the purchase subsidy for new and second-hand vehicles. 60.4 percent of Dutch people state that additional costs, such as those for installing a charging station, among other things, also prevent them from purchasing an electric car. 43.5 percent of those surveyed indicated that they would wait a little longer for favorable times. They are postponing the purchase of an electric car for a while due to the current high energy costs. Finally, some Dutch people are also uncertain about insuring electric cars. 17.6 percent indicate that they do not know how best to insure their car if they were to drive electric.