On Monday 17 October, MEPs debated the report by Ismail Ertug (S&D, German) on the deployment of alternative fuel infrastructure in the EU (‘AFIR’) (see EUROPE 13035/24). The final vote will take place on Wednesday 19 October. The report was approved by members of Parliament’s Committee on Transport on 3 October.
As a reminder, the report calls for electric vehicle charging points to be deployed and spaced no more than 60 kilometres apart by 2026. Similar requirements will be introduced by 2026 for heavy goods vehicles and other buses on the core Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
Hydrogen refuelling stations should be no more than 100 km apart by 2028 and, overall, Member States should present an action plan for infrastructure deployment by 2024.
While Mr Ertug’s report was welcomed by a majority of MEPs, some of them recalled the need to have an adequate supply of electricity to supply power to charging stations and not to accentuate the existing divide between Member States within the EU.
“It is important to stop being dependent on fossil fuels, but no region can be left behind. It is not balanced at present and the EU will be as weak as some peripheral regions that would be left out. As long as an electric car is not able to be recharged anywhere for any journey, we won’t be able to convince people to adopt it”, said Bronis Ropė (Greens/EFA, Lithuanian).
Still on the subject of electrification, some MEPs also stressed the need not to forget rail transport in the equation, saying, as did Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg (Greens/EFA, German), that more could be done to electrify rail.
On this point, the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, recalled that such provisions were included in the revision of the TEN-T and that “redundancies should not be created” in the AFIR Regulation.
In addition, the issue of payment at charging stations also came up several times. “Payment should be simple, with badges or by phone, anywhere in the EU. But it won’t happen overnight. The roadmap has to be realistic to have a coherent offer”, said Caroline Nagtegaal (Renew Europe, Dutch).
Finally, several MEPs returned to the maritime and air aspects of the AFIR Regulation. In this respect, Mrs Duparnay-Grunenberg argued in particular for the extension of the electrification obligation to private jets and small aircraft. “The wealthiest should not be excluded from the system”, she said. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)