Position paper - Infrastructure requirements of urban buses, interurban buses and coaches

With the 2030 CO2 reduction targets for heavy-duty vehicles, including buses and coaches, approaching swiftly, vehicle manufacturers' ability to meet them depends on the rapid deployment of suitable charging and refuelling infrastructure. It must focus on locations where these vehicles regularly operate, along major highways but most importantly also at depots, bus stations and hubs, and tourist destinations.

ACEA estimates that nearly 30,000 daily charging "opportunities" are needed by 2030 for interurban buses and coaches, with roughly 98% of them happening away from the main corridors.

To ensure that interurban buses and coaches can meet their CO2 targets, ACEA recommends the following:

• Create targeted EU and national funding specifically for interurban/coach -suitable charging infrastructure, improve visibility and access to existing schemes, and streamline permits and documentation, so projects move faster.
• Work with the industry and prioritise a long-term, market-led rollout in partnership with manufacturers and operators. ACEA's bus and coach manufacturers stand ready to cooperate closely with industry and value chain stakeholders, institutions and policymakers on all levels to ensure the ambitious CO2 reduction targets can be met.
• Harmonise building and safety rules across member states on fire-safety measures (eg partition walls, quarantine areas) and other civil-engineering constraints so these do not unnecessarily shrink usable charging space or slow deployment across countries.
• Even with an accelerating ZEV uptake in urban buses, there must be a continued expansion of depot charging to meet the 90% ZEV sales target by 2030. This must ensure urban bus fleets do not compete with interurban/ coach needs for limited infrastructure and grid capacity.
• Update AFIR and related EU/ national rules to include coach/interurban-specific site requirements. Additional provisions such as temporary accommodation of large passenger groups, toilets, and catering, safe alighting and pedestrian flows are crucial to ensure public and semi-public charging infrastructure are truly usable for passenger operations.
• Consistent and periodic EU-wide monitoring (bi-annual) of key enabling conditions (infrastructure rollout pace, grid readiness, permitting etc.) with the European Commission, Member States, and industry must be put in place. Feedback from these monitoring exercises must be used as a basis for reviewing CO2 targets to ensure they are aligned with the rollout of charging infrastructure and other key enabling conditions.

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