Call: Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Facility - Unit Contributions

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Transport is the funding instrument to realise European transport infrastructure policy. It aims at supporting investments in building new transport infrastructure in Europe or rehabilitating and upgrading the existing one.

Trans-European Networks for Transport (TEN-T) policy objectives foresee:

• completion by 2030 of the Core Network, structured around nine multimodal Core Network Corridors.
• completion by 2050 of the Comprehensive Network in order to facilitate accessibility to all European regions

CEF Transport focuses on cross-border projects and projects aiming at removing bottlenecks or bridging missing links in various sections of the Core Network and on the Comprehensive Network (link), as well as for horizontal priorities such as traffic management systems.

CEF Transport also supports innovation in the transport system in order to improve the use of infrastructure, reduce the environmental impact of transport, enhance energy efficiency and increase safety.

Objective:

The objective is to support the deployment of Alternative Fuel supply infrastructure, contributing to decarbonising transport along the TEN-T network.

Scope:

The activities that can be funded under this call are relating to the deployment of Alternative fuel supply networks as defined in section 6.2.2 of the multiannual work programme.

The infrastructure shall be deployed in accordance with Directive 2014/94/EU and with Regulation 1315/2013 in line with the requirements listed in the call document:

Actions supporting the roll-out of electricity fast-charging infrastructure of a minimum power output of 150kW, including electricity grid connexion, on the TEN-T road network.

• Publicly accessible recharging stations along the TEN-T road network:
  • Infrastructure
    • Publicly accessible recharging stations dedicated to light-duty vehicles, with a minimum power output of 150 kW.
    • Publicly accessible recharging stations dedicated to heavy-duty vehicles with a minimum power output of 350 kW.
    • Grid connection with a minimum power capacity of 600kVA.
  • Location
    • The recharging infrastructure must be located on the relevant TEN-T road sections identified in the “eligibility map” (https://ec.europa.eu/transport/infrastructure/tentec/tentec-portal/map/docs/AFIF1_2_150kw_350kw.pdf). A buffer of 2km driving distance from the TEN-T road network is applicable, calculated from the closest exit.
• Publicly accessible recharging stations on safe and secure parkings along the TEN-T road network:
  • Infrastructure
    • Publicly accessible recharging stations dedicated to heavy-duty vehicles with a minimum power output of 150 kW.
    • Grid connection with a minimum power capacity of 600kVA.
  • Location
    • Safe and secure parking areas on the road Core network and its nodes, or on the road Comprehensive network if they primarily serve users of the road Core network, for trucks and commercial vehicles.
• Publicly accessible recharging stations in urban nodes:
  • Infrastructure
    • Only recharging stations for heavy-duty vehicles with recharging points with a minimum power output of 350 kW.
    • Grid connection with a minimum power capacity of 600kVA.
  • Location
    • Urban nodes, listed in Annex II.2 of the TEN-T Regulation.

Costs related to vehicles will not be eligible.

• one or more EU Member States 
• by international organisations, joint undertakings, or public or private undertakings or bodies established in Member States  (with the agreement of the Member States concerned).

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies)
• be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.
  • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
  • third countries associated to the CEF

Specific cases:

• Entities from other countries are exceptionally eligible for projects of common interest in the field of transport, energyand digital and for cross-border projects in the field of renewable energy, if the granting authority considers their participation essential for the implementation of the action.
• Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self-employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legalpersonality separate from that of the natural person).
• International organisations are eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.
• Entities without legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guaranteesfor the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.
• EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.

Proposal page limits and layout:

• Part A to be filled in directly online  (administrative information, summarised budget, call-specific questions, etc.)
• Part B to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system
• mandatory annexes and supporting documents (to be uploaded):
  • detailed budget table per WP (template available in the Submission System)
  • activity reports of last year
  • list of previous projects (key projects for the last 4 years) (template available in Part B)
  • timetable/Gantt chart
  • agreement by the concerned Member States (letters of support)
  • environmental compliance file
  • financing approval letter (consisting of a transmittal letter certifying the approval of the financing by the financial institution’s governing bodies in line with its own rules, policies and procedures, and the project summary sheet)
  • simplified cost-benefit analysis (CBA) if the project is supported with financing of a non-Implementing Partner financial institution.

The available call budget for Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility – General envelope (CEF-T-2021-AFIFGEN) is EUR 1,200,000,000. (EUR 400,000,000 per year)

In order to ensure efficiency in EU funding interventions, applicants are strongly encouraged to submit applications for projects with a total requested EU contribution to the eligible costs of no less than EUR 1,000,000. Where possible, related projects should be grouped and submitted as one proposal.

The grant will be a unit grant. This means that it will reimburse a fixed amount per unit, based on unit costs, unit contributions or financing not linked to costs, as follows:

• Unit contributions for electric vehicle recharging points of minimum150 kW and minimum 350 kW:
  • Recharging point of minimum 150 kW: EUR 20,000 per unit
  • Recharging point of minimum 350 kW: EUR 40,000 per unit
• Unit contribution for grid connection: EUR 20,000 per unit