Improve efforts to develop alternative fuels infrastructure, say MEPs

The European Commission (EC) and member states need to ‘redouble efforts’ to boost the development of an alternative fuels infrastructure, say transport MEPs. The warning comes in a draft resolution from the Transport and Tourism Committee. Ismail Ertug, rapporteur, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, says: “Our initiative report urges the Commission to accelerate the revision of the directive, come up with strong infrastructure targets and more funding for a
September 26, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
The 1690 European Commission (EC) and member states need to ‘redouble efforts’ to boost the development of an alternative fuels infrastructure, say transport MEPs. The warning comes in a draft resolution from the Transport and Tourism Committee.


Ismail Ertug, rapporteur, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, says: “Our initiative report urges the Commission to accelerate the revision of the directive, come up with strong infrastructure targets and more funding for alternative fuels infrastructure.”

The original 2014 %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Directive false https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32014L0094 false false%> sets out minimum requirements for the construction of an alternative fuels infrastructure – which include recharging points for electric vehicles and refuelling points for natural gas and hydrogen models.

MEPs are calling on the EC to propose more efficient instruments including binding and enforceable targets following what it describes as “differing levels of effort and ambition” in EU countries.

The EC should increase funding to support the uptake of alternative fuels infrastructure beyond its initial €800m pledge, MEPs urge.

They insist that projects developing this infrastructure should have access to grants and loans provided by the Connecting Europe Facility and the 4270 European Investment Bank.

Also, MEPs want member states to review energy taxation frameworks to provide incentives for low-carbon and carbon-free fuels and to remove disparities in energy taxation between different transport modes.

“Furthermore, we strongly advocate the need of the rural areas for sufficient infrastructure, as there should be no European region lagging behind in the transition towards low-emission mobility,” Ertug adds.

The draft resolution will now need to be voted on by the full house of the European Parliament.

Related Content

  • March 28, 2019
    Speed limiters mandatory in EU cars by 2022
    Various vehicle safety measures have been given the green light by European policymakers, paving the way for speed limiters in cars by 2022. The European Parliament, Council and Commission have approved the measures, which means such technology as lane assist, drowsiness detection, advanced emergency braking and intelligent speed assistance (ISA – or speed limiters) are expected to be mandatory – if formal approval is granted - in new vehicles in three years’ time. EU commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, res
    Read More
  • September 30, 2016
    Transport MEPs call for boost in development of transport infrastructure
    Improvements in maximising the use of EU funding are needed to reduce disparities in infrastructure development between Central and Eastern Europe and the rest of the EU, MEPs say in an own-initiative report voted in the Transport and Tourism committee on Monday. EU member states and the European Commission should focus on completing the TEN-T corridors, bridging missing links, removing bottlenecks and improve connections between different modes of transport. To date, most of the transport infrastructure
    Read More
  • April 17, 2019
    Volkswagen tests Level 4 AVs in Hamburg
    Volkswagen Research is testing autonomous vehicles (AVs) at SAE Level 4 in real driving conditions in the German city of Hamburg. The announcement comes as the fall-out from VW’s ‘Dieselgate’ nightmare – when the company was found to have programmed turbocharged direct injection diesel engines to activate their emissions controls for laboratory tests - putters on. This week the company’s former chief executive Martin Winterkorn was charged with fraud for his involvement. But VW has admitted that the scan
    Read More
  • December 1, 2017
    New EU wide rules on drone safety and privacy
    Drone operators and drones will need to comply with EU basic requirements on safety, security and personal data protection, following new regulations agreed by European Parliament and Council negotiators. The rules for the civil use of drones aim to bring a uniform level of safety and help boost the sector by providing greater clarity to manufacturers and operators. EU countries will need to ensure that operators of drones that can cause significant harm such as crashing into people, or present risks to
    Read More

Highlighted Content