Deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure

PURPOSE: to encourage the widespread commercial uptake of alternative fuels in the Union.

PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (new proposal).

PARLIAMENT’S ROLE: Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: in line with its flagship initiative ‘Resource-efficient Europe”, the White Paper entitled “Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a Competitive and Resource Efficient Transport System” called for breaking the oil dependence of transport and set a target of 60% greenhouse gas emissions reduction from transport by 2050. The Commission therefore decided to develop a sustainable alternative fuels strategy, including also the appropriate associated infrastructure.

The Commission’s communication “Clean Power for Transport: A European alternative fuels strategy” evaluates the main alternative fuel options available to substitute oil. The main alternative fuel options are electricity, hydrogen, biofuels, natural gas (in the forms of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), or GasTo-Liquid (GTL)), and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Lack of alternative fuel infrastructure and of the common technical specifications for the vehicle-infrastructure interface is considered a major obstacle to the market introduction of alternative fuels and consumer acceptance.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: the impact assessment that accompanies the proposal investigated the situation with infrastructure for the main alternative fuel options.

LEGAL BASIS: Article 91(1)(d) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

CONTENT: the proposed Directive aims at ensuring the setting in place of alternative fuel infrastructure and the implementation of common technical specifications for this infrastructure in the Union. More specifically, the proposal requires:

• the introduction of common technical specifications and the establishment of minimum infrastructure for alternative fuels for transport, i.e. electricity, natural gas (CNG and LNG) and hydrogen, to ensure the market uptake by consumers of alternative fuels and the further development and deployment of the technology by industry;
• Member States to draw up national policy frameworks for the market development of alternative fuels and their infrastructure;
• each Member State to establish a minimum number of recharging points for electric vehicles by each Member State, with 10% of them being publicly accessible;
• the establishment, on the territory of Member States where there are already hydrogen refuelling points, the build-up of a sufficient number of points to allow hydrogen-powered vehicles to circulate throughout the national territory;
• that LNG refuelling points shall be built in all maritime and inland waterway ports, as well as routes on the Trans-European Transport (TEN-T) Core Network and defines the common technical specifications to be met by this infrastructure;
• that common information on fuels and their compatibility with vehicles be made available to the consumer at the pumps in all refuelling points, in vehicle manuals, and on the vehicles themselves.

BUDGETARY IMPACT: only limited costs related to the follow-up on the implementation of the Directive will arise for the EU budget. The total impact on expenditure (operational and administrative expenditure) is estimated at EUR 1 329 080 million.

DELEGATED ACTS: the proposal contains provisions empowering the Commission to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.