AFIR - Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation
What exactly does this regulation mean for the future of eMobility, and how will it affect EV drivers and infrastructure?
Sometimes, goodwill alone is not enough to drive transformative change.
What does help, though, is regulation – the kind that can unite nations and industry bodies towards a common goal. And that’s exactly what the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) sets out to do.
But what is AIFR? How does it affect EV drivers? And what does it mean for the future of eMobility? Here’s your no-nonsense guide to everything AFIR is, does, and aims for…
What is AFIR (Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation)?
AFIR stands for the ‘Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation’, a European directive aimed at increasing the frequency and availability of charging options for electric vehicles.
In practical terms, that means that nations across the EU need to work to make it easier for drivers to find and access charging points for their EVs, as well as increase the regularity and availability of charging provisions for heavy transport like trucks and busses. That also includes “comprehensive user information and adequate payment options.”
The regulation was presented by the European Commission in 2021 as part of the Green Deal, and essentially sets out a number of staggered goals or targets for member states to hit by 2025, 2030, 2040 and 2050. It’s in service of the EU’s climate-neutral goal for 2050.
AFIR came into effect on April 13th, 2024.
AFIR’s key goals
AFIR outlines a bunch of goals and rules for EU states to adhere to – sitting across a range of verticals and timelines:
Minimum infrastructure requirements
The main goal here is to ensure that drivers (both private and commercial) can charge their vehicles reliably across Europe without encountering charger scarcity. In fact, there’s actually a kilowatt-per-vehicle target: “For every battery electric light duty vehicle a total power output of at least 1.3 kW should be provided through publicly accessible recharging stations, while for every plug-in hybrid light-duty vehicle, a total power output of at least 0.66 kW should be provided.”
To enable that vision, AFIR suggests that the goal for 2025 is for 150-kilowatt fast-chargers to be stationed no further than 60 km apart along major motorways (‘major’ being defined as those along the Trans-European Transport (TEN-T) Network) – and 150km for hydrogen options. That amounts to some 3.5 million charging stations by 2030, 11.4 million by 2040, and 16.3 million across the EU by 2050.
Standardisation, interoperability and data sharing
AFIR doesn’t just want more chargers – it wants smart chargers: “Operators of recharging points shall ensure that all publicly accessible recharging points operated by them and built after April 13, 2024, or renovated after October 14, 2024, are capable of smart recharging.”
‘Smart charging’ here means the ability to reduce charging and waiting times by distributing power to vehicles algorithmically. But AFIR’s key focus is really on more intelligent, better-connected chargers – built to the same standards – and that can communicate in a more open way.
To that end, charge point APIs are a must; charge point owners need their hardware to be able to communicate with roaming networks, the energy grid, and drivers in a way that promotes discoverability and intelligent energy usage.
Driver transparency
That also means giving drivers all the information they need. Under AFIR’s rules, drivers should always be able to see real-time charger availability, with fully transparent pricing information and clear user information and guidance. AFIR also calls for pricing that removes surcharges for roaming abroad, and frictionless payment options without the need for specific accounts or memberships.
Planning and reporting
To meet all these targets, member states need to develop iron-clad, crystal clear deployment plans for their charging networks – with accountability reporting to the European Commission designed to help ensure targets are being met, and that standardised practices are being followed.
The Impact of AFIR on the EV Charging Landscape
AFIR is great news for eMobility. Not only does it show more committed thinking on behalf of European decision-makers, but it sets out actionable, measurable processes that’ll make life easier for EV drivers across the continent.
Increased investment will mean more chargers, but really this is about more than just dotting charging provisions across the roadways. The regulations’ focus on standardisation, user convenience and interoperability is great news for a more connected and intelligent charging ecosystem – one that avoids tricky issues around things like hardware fragmentation and roaming costs.
“The specific objectives of the proposed Regulation are: (i) to ensure minimum infrastructure to support the required uptake of alternative fuel vehicles across all transport modes and in all EU Member States to meet the EU’s climate objectives; (ii) to ensure full interoperability of the infrastructure; and (iii) to ensure comprehensive user information and adequate payment options at alternative fuels infrastructure.”
For drivers, that means easier access to chargers. For charge point operators, it means working as part of a more organised group, rather than in isolation. And everyone benefits as a result.
Think about aeroplanes as an analogy. If every airport in the world were designed and operated independently of one another – each to their own standards and designs – it’d be logistically impossible to fly planes between them. Standardising how airports operate, then, is what makes streamlined air travel possible – and it’s the same here with charging infrastructure.
How Spirii Stays Informed and Adapts to AFIR Regulations
At Spirii, we’re committed to developing EV charging solutions that are aligned with evolving regulations and industry standards. Our team is always fully up to date with emerging legislation and best practices, and they influence everything we work on.
We know that interoperability, transparency and intelligence are the bedrock of tomorrow’s charging infrastructure. That’s why our solutions are driver and charge point owner-centric, as well as being hardware agnostic.
We know that the future of eMobility infrastructure is about more than just having enough chargers; it’s about smart charging, platform-based architecture, and the ability to deploy new features to existing charge points as legislation and technology evolve.