The Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council finalised, on Wednesday 6 October, the first version of its compromise text on certain aspects of the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure in the EU. The text will be discussed in an EU Council working group on 12 October.
The EU Council Presidency has focused most of its work on the issue of recharging stations for electric vehicles. As regards the timetable, the text provides that the minimum coverage of recharging points within the core trans-European transport network (TEN-T) will be effective by 31 December 2026. The Commission’s proposal was for December 2025.
By this date, recharging stations should have a maximum cumulative recharging capacity of 300 kWh and at least one individual recharging point should be capable of delivering 150 kWh.
The targets of 600 kWh cumulated per fleet by 31 December 2030 for light duty vehicles remain unchanged, as do the targets for heavy duty vehicles in December 2026 (700 kWh cumulated) and December 2030 (1400 kWh cumulated).
On the overall TEN-T, the EU Council Presidency specifies that the deployment of recharging points at urban nodes should be completed in 2030, not 2025. Every urban node should be equipped for heavy-duty vehicles (1200 kWh cumulative and 150 kWh individual power) by 2035. The Commission’s proposal was for 2030.
Already a contentious issue, the EU Council finally proposes that recharging points should be spaced at a maximum of 100 km apart. The Commission’s initial idea - a distance of 60 km between each terminal - had already provoked reactions from the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12799/5) and from some Member States (see EUROPE 12797/3).
Requirements for operators
For the operators of recharging points, several requirements have been added in the compromise text.
In addition to the fact that operators must ensure that all recharging points accept electronic payments, the EU Council specifies that all fleets with a power output of at least 50 kWh should have “a payment instrument that is widely used in the Union”. Operators should also “clearly display” prices per session, per minute and per kWh.
The EU Council text returns as well to the deadlines for the development of hydrogen and liquefied natural gas (LNG) refuelling stations.
For hydrogen, the EU Council puts forward the date of 31 December 2033 - as opposed to 2030 initially - for the establishment of a network of refuelling stations spaced at a maximum of 150 km along the central TEN-T.
The network of LNG filling stations for heavy-duty vehicles along the central TEN-T should be completed by 1 January 2030. The Commission’s proposal was to complete this deployment by 2025.
An exemption for small airports
The compromise text also reverses some of the targets set for aviation.
On the overall TEN-T, airport operators would have to supply electricity to gates used by parked commercial transport aircraft no later than four years after the publication of the regulation, whereas the initial proposal suggested a deadline of 2025.
The limit for 2030 on the provision of electricity from the electricity grid or generated on-site by airport operators has also been revised. Instead, the entities concerned would have a period of eight years from the publication of the Regulation.
Finally, the text states, Member States could also exempt from these targets airports in the overall TEN-T that have fewer than 10,000 commercial flight movements per year.
The deployment of alternative fuels in road, air and maritime transport is part of the ‘Fit For 55’ legislative package presented by the European Commission on 14 July, which should enable the EU to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 (see EUROPE 12759/3).
See the compromise text: https://bit.ly/3iI743E (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)