The deployment of private recharging infrastructure as well as an EU-wide interoperable public infrastructure remains a core pre-condition to bolstering electric vehicle (EV) market acceptance. The EU has already taken a first step to addressing consumer anxieties with regards to range and physical charging compatibility of EVs. The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure (AFI) Directive 2014/94/EU, whose implementation deadline passed a year ago, mandates the installation of minimum numbers of publicly accessible charging points and sets EU-wide harmonised standards for their charging connectors. The ongoing reform of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), on the other hand, is an important opportunity to ensure European buildings are adequately pre-equipped for EV charging points. The existing and future regulatory framework will need to be accompanied by adequate EU funding.

In this paper the Platform for Electro-Mobility suggests how the European Commission and Member States can play a key role in stirring investments towards the deployment of future-proof recharging infrastructure. The recommendations are divided into three main categories, namely 1) private domain: buildings; 2) public charging points in urban areas; and 3) electrification along and beyond the TEN-T network. 

The Electro-Mobility Platform unites 31 organisations from across civil society, industries, and transport modes. Its members are committed to promote electro-mobility and strive to collectively develop solutions to electrify European transport, and to promote those solutions to the EU institutions and Member States.

Having acted as chair of the Platform’s infrastructure working group, Bellona has brought together the platform’s members in producing this well-timed paper: which comes in the lead up to the European Commission’s Mobility Package (9 November 2017), set to contain a European Action Plan for Alternative Fuels Infrastructure.