- Charging infrastructure expansion: progress on AFIR dossier
- Germany concludes energy agreement with Qatar
- Belgium extends life cycle of two nuclear reactors
- Lindner calls for reboot of TTIP talks
- Privacy Shield works after all – in the US
- Russia tells Google to stop spreading threats
- ECB Vice President calls for measures against wage-price spiral
- Anne Gläser – an optimist to the core
As Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Robert Habeck, told journalists on Sunday in Doha, his expectations of the meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, had been exceeded. It had been “magnificently” firmly agreed to enter into a long-term energy partnership. Afterwards, he sent a message to Russian warlord Vladimir Putin: “Even if we might still need Russian gas this year: not in the future, which is just beginning. So he who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Read more about it in the News.
Belgium, on the other hand, is relying on a different strategy to secure its own energy supply: The operating life of two of the country’s nuclear reactors is to be extended. Originally, the plan was to shut down all seven reactors by 2025. It was a decision for safety in uncertain times, Brussels said. More on this in the News.
The EU countries must invest in Europe-wide charging infrastructures for EVs to ensure that the energy and transport transitions go hand in hand. The regulation with national expansion targets (Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation, AFIR) intends to promote this. Amendment proposals could still be submitted until last Friday, and, broadly speaking, there is consensus in the Council and Parliament. However, there is a wide range of opinions on the expansion targets for LNG for trucks. Lukas Scheid analyzes still unresolved details.
In today’s Profile, Europe.Table introduces Anne Gläser, environmental scientist and CO2 pricing officer at the development and environmental organization Germanwatch. She is convinced that the goals of the European Green Deal are still achievable – with a lot of international cooperation.
Lisa-Martina Klein
Feature
Charging infrastructure expansion: progress on AFIR dossier
The Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) is part of the Fit for 55 package and is intended to drive forward the development of a charging infrastructure for EVs. The EU Commission had proposed that member states must mandatorily add one kilowatt (kW) of charging capacity with each newly registered EV – 0.66 kW for each plug-in hybrid (PHEV). The rapporteur of the lead TRAN committee in the EU Parliament, Ismail Ertug (SPD/S&D), wants to significantly increase the expansion targets and link them to the amount of charging capacity already available (Europe.Table reported).
The deadline for amendments now ended on Friday. Green shadow rapporteur Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg also wants higher expansion targets, but without differentiation between e-car and hybrid:
- 3 kW per registered EV or PHEV if the share of EVs in the national passenger car fleet is less than 1 percent.
- 2.5 kW for EV and PHEV share between 1 and 2.5 percent.
- 2 kW for EV and PHEV share between 2.5 and 5 percent
- 1.5 kW for EV and PHEV share between 5 and 7.5 percent
- 1 kW for EV and PHEV share above 7.5 percent
Jens Gieseke, transport policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU group in the EU Parliament and AFIR shadow rapporteur for the EPP, also wants to significantly accelerate the development of the charging infrastructure: 3 kW per new EV, 2 kW per PHEV. However, unlike Ertug and Deparnay-Grunenberg, Gieseke does not envisage any linkage with the existing charging network.
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