European Parliament votes for ‘every 60 km charging station’ plan

Highlights

• A fast charger every 60 km
• Hydrogen every 100 km
• Only along Ten-T ‘corridors’
• More insightful prices

The European proposal focuses on the so-called Ten-T roads, a network of European trunk roads designated by the EU. By 2030, a fast charger must be found along those roads at least every 60 kilometers. In addition, a fairly serious network of hydrogen stations is being built, especially for freight traffic. Before the end of 2027, such a hydrogen station must be built every 100 km for hydrogen in gaseous form. That is even more frequent than in the previous article, which talked about 150 km. In addition, there must also be filling stations for liquid hydrogen, although every 400 km is the proposed minimum.

The fundamentally beautiful plan does raise the question of whether this cannot simply be left to the market. After all, in the Netherlands we also have an intricate network of Fastned, Ionity and other fast charging stations, without this rule being necessary. VVD MEP Caroline Nagtegaal, co-negotiator on this dossier, partly agrees: “When it comes to charging stations, there is serious skewed growth in Europe. The Netherlands is leading the way and countries such as France and Germany are also improving, but in other countries it is less fast. The suggested amount of chargers is not optimal, but the minimum that is needed,” explains Nagtegaal in conversation with AutoWeek. The idea is that the presence of this minimal charging infrastructure can help the sale of electric cars get started in countries where this has not yet happened. Nagtegaal: “The market must eventually pick up on this, but at the same time we see that legislation helps.”

That legislation will certainly not dictate whether trucks must run on hydrogen or whether they will be rechargeable. “Battery electric is most relevant for passenger cars, but hydrogen often seems more interesting for heavier transport. Transport companies ultimately have to decide that themselves, but then that choice has to be made.” The fact that hydrogen is especially interesting for larger and heavier vehicles is by no means a new idea. However, quite a few car manufacturers are also working on it, recently more often If you buy a hydrogen car, you will of course also benefit from the hydrogen stations, which will also be accessible to passenger cars.

Caroline Nagtegaal (VVD)

Consultation with Member States

The vote in the European Parliament takes the implementation of the plan further, but does not mean that it is completely final. Nagtegaal: “Now we have to negotiate with the member states. However, that can go well, and then within a few months there will be a definitive ‘go’ and we will start. In those negotiations it may well be that an exception is made here and there to the 60 km rule, for example in very sparsely populated areas in a country such as Finland. The capacity of the electricity grid must also be taken into account.”

The precise implementation of this plan is in any case left to the Member States themselves. A budget of €1.5 billion is available for the implementation, which should also make it attractive for companies to start building charging locations. The EU not only sets requirements for the quantity of chargers, but also for the chargers themselves. For example, it must be clear at or near the pole what charging costs and the amount of payment options must be expanded, preferably including regular bank cards and credit cards. For chargers in remote areas, an emergency button can also be considered, which can be beneficial for safety, especially in the evening and at night.

The news about the new European plans comes more or less simultaneously with an ACEA study, which calculated how many chargers can be found per 100 km of road in all EU countries. The outcome of that research cannot be compared one-on-one with the new plans, because ACEA looked at all charging stations. The plans that have just been approved specifically concern fast chargers, and therefore the possibility to traverse all of Europe with an electric car.