• EP transport committee vote on alternative fuels strategy

    The TRAN committee vote was today - 26 November 2013. The final outcome was 30 members in favour, with 7 members against and no abstentions. Following this vote, the file now moves to trilogue and then back to the EP for a rubber stamp plenary vote.

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    Two key amendments that were adopted today:

    Adopted – Compromise Amendments 4 and 8 on Electricity supply for transport

    The Commission’s proposal was for Member States to install 8 million electric charging points, 800,000 of which should be publicly available. Compromise amendment 4 keeps the mandate for the public charging points but throws out a mandate for the private ones. That means Member States can develop private charging infrastructure as they see fit. Compromise amendment 8 reduces the number of public recharging stations from 800,000 to 456,000.
    But Parliament said Member States need to put the public electric charging stations in urban areas and at ‘reasonable distances’ along the TEN-T network, as to better address ‘range anxiety’ of electric car drivers.
    Adopted – Compromise Amendment 6 on natural gas for transport
    The Parliament wants to put more obligations to Member States for refueling points for natural gas.
    Commenting on the vote, Cecile Toubeau, T&E policy officer for clean vehicles, said “On electric charging points, the European Parliament is sensibly focusing less on the quantity of charging points, and more on their accessibility – where they should be placed. This is a small step towards clean e-mobility. But we don’t see why Europe has a business in mandating refilling stations for natural gas – another high-carbon fossil fuel that we should get rid of, not encourage.“