Europe agrees deal to expand charging, hydrogen stations
The agreement wants fast-charge stations for cars and trucks every 60 km and hydrogen stations every 200 km on major European roads.
The European Union on Tuesday reached a provisional deal for the mandatory expansion of charging points for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hydrogen station for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).
This agreement looks to enable the transition to zero-emission transport and contribute to the target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. The program sets mandatory deployment targets for electric recharging and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for the road sector, for shore-side electricity supply in maritime and inland waterway ports, and for electricity supply to stationary aircraft.
According to the agreement, recharging infrastructure for cars and vans has to grow at the same pace as vehicle uptake. To that end, for each registered BEV in a given Member State, a power output of 1.3 kW must be provided by publicly accessible recharging infrastructure. In addition, every 60 km along the trans-European transport (TEN-T) network, fast recharging stations of at least 150 kW need to be installed from 2025 onwards.
Recharging stations dedicated to heavy-duty vehicles with a minimum output of 350 kW need to be deployed every 60 km along the TEN-T core network, and every 100 km on the larger TEN-T comprehensive network from 2025 onwards, with complete network coverage to be achieved by 2030. The stations must be installed at safe and secure parking areas for overnight recharging as well as in urban nodes for delivery vehicles.
Hydrogen stations that can serve both cars and lorries must be deployed from 2030 onwards in all urban nodes and every 200 km along the TEN-T core network, ensuring a sufficiently dense network to allow hydrogen vehicles to travel across the EU.
Operators of charging points and hydrogen stations must ensure full price transparency, offer a common ad hoc payment method such as debit or credit card, and make relevant data, such as that on location, available through electronic means.
The political agreement reached this week must now be formally adopted.
EU countries are set to give final approval on Tuesday to the bloc's law to end sales of new CO2-emitting cars in 2035, after Germany won an exemption for cars running on e-fuels.
