European lawmakers should not weaken targets proposed by the European Commission for battery-electric-vehicle (BEV) charging and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, according to four advocacy groups.

The EU is legislating on the issue in the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (Afir) proposal, part of its ‘Fit for 55’ package.

The initial proposal from the European Commission set a target for the Trans-European Transport Network (Ten-T) to have  4mn charging points for BEVs with a capacity of 1kW and a hydrogen refuelling station every 150km for compressed hydrogen and every 450km for liquefied hydrogen.

As it stands, the proposal would require member states to install almost 2,000 hydrogen refuelling stations by 2030. Some 124 were available across ten EU countries in 2020—the last year for which complete data is available—but 17 member states did not have any at all.

124 – Hydrogen refuelling stations in the EU

But the proposal is in danger of being diluted as it proceeds through the EU’s lawmaking process—where it can be amended by members of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

“The increasing emissions of the mobility sector will not be addressed if the EU institutions decrease the ambition of this proposal, particularly by cutting distances between stations and removing minimum daily capacities of stations,” says Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of industry lobby group Hydrogen Europe.

“Only an ambitious text can guarantee that Europeans can easily switch to the zero-emission vehicle of their choice.”

Holding firm

In a letter to EU lawmakers, the groups highlighted particular areas where they believe cuts to ambition should not be made.

“It is crucial to have ambitious mandatory Ten-T targets from 2025 at the latest,” says the letter to transport ministers from the 27 EU member states and rapporteurs in the European Parliament.

“Equally important, hydrogen refuelling stations have to be fully deployed along both the Ten-T core and comprehensive road networks with sufficient minimum daily capacities by meeting the Afir targets at the latest by 2030, while ensuring the pre-2030 ambition matches the rollout of hydrogen-fuelled heavy-duty vehicles in the second half of this decade.”

Furthermore, ambitious targets should be set for urban areas, as these will often contain higher concentrations of hydrogen and electric vehicles as part of municipal decarbonisation schemes, the letter says.

The four advocacy groups are IRU, which represents commercial road transport operators; Acea, representing vehicle manufacturers; Hydrogen Europe, which represents firms in the hydrogen sector; and non-governmental organisation Transport & Environment.

Acea has previously said the commission’s initial proposal was not ambitious enough in its initial targets.

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Author: Tom Young