Diesel ban in Belgium, Wallonia from 2023.

[marchugo]

I posted this message this week in the Dutch/Belgian language forum here on the VWCaliforniaclub, but realized that this diesel ban in Belgium (southern region Wallonia) has complications too for T5 and T6 Calis from other countries.

Because our 2009 Cali falls into the Euro 4 diesel category, we are curious to see when we will be unwelcome in Wallonia.

There are some rather vague descriptions of the Walloon approach to diesels on the internet, such as here:

https://www.knac.nl/belangenbeveiliging/milieuzones/milieuzones-in-het-buitenland/

(KNAC is Belgian AA)

On the one hand, I read there that from 2023 diesels in the Euro 1 category will be banned. Every year a category will be added, until by 2030 only the top category of Euro 6 will be allowed.

Who can point me to a source where the years are clearly described per euro category?

For Calis with Euro 4 and 5, and maybe some 6, this will mean that we can no longer travel to camp sites in the south of Belgium, nor that cross that region to Northern France. That will be a detour via Germany...

On the other hand, I also read that diesels with Euro 4 are still welcome in Wallonia, for a period that the regional board apparently has yet to determine. How about that?

I also read that the region of Brussels still allows campers in the Low Emission Zone, but it is not clear to me how this is in Wallonia?

Now that Europe is maybe opening up again after corona, the Belgians are building an Atanktik Wall against diesels...

Is the AA taking action against this diesel ban, for instance trying to negotiate exemptions for campers?


Greetings from Amsterdam,

Marc.

 

[bvddobb]

Marc, I read in the Belgian press, some time ago already, that recreational vehicles (SA added to your vehicle category on your registration) will be exempt.
If your van is a commercial van or a people mover by its registration, than you will have an issue. Has it been registered as a campervan/recreational vehicle (so, category M1/SA on your registration for a Cali), than no issue.

Can’t find the source quickly now, sorry!

 

[bvddobb]

Ah, here it is: https://www.walloniebassesemissions.be/fr/mon-vehicule/#suis-je-concerne

En règle générale, les zones basses émissions restent accessibles aux véhicules suivants :

• Aux véhicules à usages spéciaux qui répondent à la définition d’autocaravane ou de grue mobile.

 

[marchugo]

Good find, Bob.
It seems that campers are exempted from the diesel ban in Belgian Wallonie.
But what are 'grue mobile'? Mobile cranes I guess. So we can travel to Belgian with our mobile crane...

The document contains a time path too, for the ban of different kind of Euro diesel types.

Regards from Amsterdam,

Marc.

 

[calibusje]

I posted this message this week in the Dutch/Belgian language forum here on the VWCaliforniaclub, but realized that this diesel ban in Belgium (southern region Wallonia) has complications too for T5 and T6 Calis from other countries.

Because our 2009 Cali falls into the Euro 4 diesel category, we are curious to see when we will be unwelcome in Wallonia.

There are some rather vague descriptions of the Walloon approach to diesels on the internet, such as here:

https://www.knac.nl/belangenbeveiliging/milieuzones/milieuzones-in-het-buitenland/

(KNAC is Belgian AA)

On the one hand, I read there that from 2023 diesels in the Euro 1 category will be banned. Every year a category will be added, until by 2030 only the top category of Euro 6 will be allowed.

Who can point me to a source where the years are clearly described per euro category?

For Calis with Euro 4 and 5, and maybe some 6, this will mean that we can no longer travel to camp sites in the south of Belgium, nor that cross that region to Northern France. That will be a detour via Germany...

On the other hand, I also read that diesels with Euro 4 are still welcome in Wallonia, for a period that the regional board apparently has yet to determine. How about that?

I also read that the region of Brussels still allows campers in the Low Emission Zone, but it is not clear to me how this is in Wallonia?

Now that Europe is maybe opening up again after corona, the Belgians are building an Atanktik Wall against diesels...

Is the AA taking action against this diesel ban, for instance trying to negotiate exemptions for campers?


Greetings from Amsterdam,

Marc.

Hello, first this: the KNAC is Dutch and not at all the Belgian AA (this is the VTB-VAB now only 'VAB' and the Touring Wegenhulp of which the first is the oldest). However, that is not the most important thing: what is more important is the following: it is the Walloon government that made this decision and not the Belgian one. I'm not a flamingant, but I would like to clarify; the Flemish government or even the national government has nothing to do with this. These are regional powers. But, I don't know how they're going to do it, or if they're going to do it at all. Probably. That is why we ordered a new one because believe me, we were looking forward to a younger T4 westfalia with at least the 102 hp engine and air conditioning. However, these engines are viewed as a pariah according to the applicable emission standards (and this not only in Belgium) hence the last diesel version of the transporter that hopefully can drive around the longest. In conclusion, may I mention that like you, I hope that there will be exceptions for older diesel campers (tourism is quite important there). I have already understood that it is by no means certain whether exceptions will be made for old-timers, but I hope that too: then I can keep our old T4 from 1991 with his smoking diesel engine to take nostalgic trips in our Ardennes
Greetings

 

[Mehdime]

Ah, here it is: https://www.walloniebassesemissions.be/fr/mon-vehicule/#suis-je-concerne

Had a read through this and there seems to be some misunderstanding of what this page explains.

That page covers two different bans:

• Low emision zones imposed by individual towns and cities. These are already in place today and will get progressively stricter.
• The region-wide ban on older diesel and petrol cars. This is only coming into effect in 2023.

The timelines for those two different types of bans and the exceptions made are completely different.

Low-emission zones
Camper vans are exempt this this one according to that page. So Californias can still access low-emission zones regardless of their Euro-rating (at least as long as your van is registered as a camper van I imagine).

Region-wide ban
There is no exception for camper vans for that one according to that page. So Californias will definitely be affected, starting with Euro 1 vans in 2023 and eventually all vans up to and including Euro 6 vans in 2030.

One good news: if your van meets at least Euro 4 and was purchased before 2019, you will qualify for a yet-to-be-decided extension to the deadline so you won’t be banned straight away. You won’t qualify for that extension if you bought a second hand van in 2019 or later however.

In addition, there is currently no plan to ban vehicles with a Euro 6d or Euro 6d-temp rating (which are stricter than Euro 6 - see https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/fuels-environment/euro-emissions-standards). It means that if you bought a Cali recently (not sure when Calis became compliant with Euro 6d-temp), the region-wide ban won’t affect you.

I’m sure Euro 6d vans will eventually get banned as well but it will be a while before it becomes an issue.

 

[Kjetil]

This has gone to far from a CO2 perspective! Diesel has still lower emissions than petrol. Symbolic measures for political reasons. Better put pressure on the logistic companies, or buy less crap from all over the world. And better to drive a used well functional van than produce a new one, from a global point of view.
I know this is off-topic but…
Moderators, feel free to remove my post.

 

[Mehdime]

This has gone to far from a CO2 perspective! Diesel has still lower emissions than petrol.

I know that the thread mentions diesel specifically but the ban isn’t about diesel. It targets diesel and petrol cars equally.

 

[bxl_lad]

The fact that virtually every camper van is running diesel, I would have thought that Wallonia of all places (which already had unemployment issues), would be shooting themselves in the foot to cut off that source of tourism revenue...
We're living in Brussels and indeed the LEZ zone there offers exemption for vehicles classed as motor homes (type SA), however when we imported our T4 into belgium from Germany (5 years ago) we had to fight with the authorities to have our classed as such. We won that battle thankfully as otherwise today we'd already be banned from the city in which we live!).
Common sense will have to prevail at some point. Fully understand ridding the roads of older more polluting vehicles in general, but camper vans are not used generally as daily drivers, generally drive to remote places and sit still for days at a time, these are not the problem vehicles.
The neighbour with a new one litre petrol car, driving everyday 2kms to the shops and back, by schools and residential streets, is causing more pollution than my 20 year old T4 that drives (for several hours at temperature) a few times a year, mostly down motorways.
As mentioned above, these rules are not made by thinking people, only by those looking to make a political statement, appearing to be doing something, but in fact creating more issues than fixing...