The sub-group’s main mission shall be to assist the Commission in developing a substantive understanding of and recommendations on the planning, deployment and operation of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles (buses, coaches and trucks) and corresponding recharging and refuelling infrastructure, in particular along the TEN-T network and in urban nodes. The outcomes of this work will contribute to the drafting of the Commission’s technology and market-readiness report dedicated to heavy-duty vehicles, and support and facilitate the deployment of this critical infrastructure, to meet the requirements of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) and help ensure sufficient availability of recharging and refuelling infrastructure matching the demand of relevant use cases.
The sub-group shall also function as a platform for exchange between stakeholders and the Commission on all matters related to the promotion and development of high-quality recharging and refueling infrastructure for heavy-duty vehicles. This includes, for example, interactions between and the respective role of different recharging approaches (depot charging, destination charging, fast opportunity charging and overnight charging in publicly accessible charging stations), demands from fleet operators as regards recharging and hydrogen refueling infrastructure, including optimal location in and around urban nodes and multimodal hubs, respective role of combined charging and megawatt charging systems (CCS and MCS), future role of compressed and liquified hydrogen, electricity grid connection needs, economic and technological maturity, perspectives of innovative solutions such as electrified road systems as well as standardization needs. The sub-group’s specific tasks are described in the Terms of Reference and Call for Applications (see the documents below).
The sub-group will have to align with, receive inputs from and feed into the work foreseen under the new sub-group on hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for road transport vehicles. Work programmes of both sub-groups should be aligned under the supervision of the Commission.
Following a call for applications, the Director-General for Mobility and Transport appointed 30 organisations (Type C members), 17 Member States’ authorities (Type D members), 1 public entity (Type E member) and 20 observers to this sub-group. The appointment is valid for a maximum of 4 years, starting on 1 September 2024. DG MOVE may appoint additional observers to the sub-group.