A new law agreed upon by the European Union will require member countries to significantly ramp up the deployment of publicly available charging stations for electric cars and trucks.

The Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) requires EU country members to ensure that there are public EV  charging for cars every 60 kms along all main motorways by 2025, and on all secondary highways by 2030.

The new fleet-based targets also mean that charging infrastructure matches EV demand, and vice-versa. The bill also requires at least 3,600 kW of truck charging capacity every 60 km along the EU’s primary motorways by 2030, and at least 1,500 kW of truck charging capacity every 100 km on secondary motorways.

“Charging anxiety will become a thing of the past,” said Fabian Sperka, vehicles policy manager at Transport & Environment (T&E), a European clean transport campaign group.

“Governments will be legally required to ramp up infrastructure as electric car sales grow. Electric car drivers will be able to pay with a bank card anywhere in Europe. It will be as easy to charge an EV in Romania as to fill up the tank in Germany today.”

European ports will also be required to make short-side electricity available for container and passenger ships from 2030, and EU countries will now be required to report their plans for green bunkering points, including electricity, hydrogen, methanol, and ammonia refueling infrastructure, in their ports.

“The agreement will send a clear signal to citizens and other stakeholders that user-friendly recharging infrastructure and refueling stations for alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, will be installed throughout the EU,” said Andreas Carlson, Swedish minister for infrastructure and housing.

“This means that more public recharging capacity will be available on the streets in urban areas as well along the motorways. Citizens will no longer have a reason to feel anxious about finding charging and refueling stations to their electric or fuel-cell car.”