In a letter sent to Jean‐Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) calls on the Commission to earmark additional funding for the transition to low‐ and zero‐emission mobility under the EU’s upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework.
In particular, ACEA believes that a substantial part of the future Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) budget for transport and energy should be dedicated to building up a critical mass of charging and refuelling infrastructure for alternatively-powered vehicles by 2030.
Recent data by the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that there is still serious underinvestment in vehicle charging and refuelling points across the EU, greatly hindering the market uptake of low- and zero‐emission vehicles. Electrically‐chargeable cars, for instance, represent just 1.5% of all new cars sold today. Moreover, due to the poor implementation of the Directive on the Deployment of Alternative Fuel Infrastructure, the Commission has even been obliged to launch several infringement procedures against member states.
The upcoming 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework offers a great opportunity to address this situation. Indeed, deploying a sufficiently dense network of charging and refuelling infrastructure for all alternatively‐powered vehicles (electric, hydrogen, compressed natural gas, etc) right across the European Union would help filling the missing links in Europe’s climate, transport and energy strategies.
Click here to read the full letter.
