E-mobility project proposed to receive EUR 12.9 million CEF grant

A EUR 64.5 million e-mobility project including Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, and Slovakia is proposed to receive a EUR 12.9 million grant under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

The MULTI-E: Multiple Urban and Long-distance Transport Initiatives – Electric and CNG project is among 49 projects proposed by the European Commission for EUR 695.1 million in investments in sustainable and innovative transport infrastructure in Europe. The CEF is a key EU funding instrument to promote growth, jobs, and competitiveness through targeted infrastructure investment at the European level.

Slovenia’s energy company Petrol is the coordinating applicant.

The project is aimed at electrifying urban and regional bus routes and launching mobility as a service (MaaS) e-vehicle fleets (920) with supporting infrastructure and IT platform.

Activities envisage deployment of publicly accessible electric and CNG recharging networks for a variety of urban and corridor travel needs with 16 CNG stations, 24 Ultra Chargers, 349 AC chargers, 5 charging hubs and 6 e-bus charging stations, for a total of roughly 1,000 supply points.

The project focuses on the Baltic-Adriatic corridor, with an extension to Zagreb along the Mediterranean Corridor, and the Rhine-Danube in Slovakia.

In evaluation remarks, the European Commission said that the project is aligned with the core TEN-T priorities, specifically cohesion, decarbonization, interoperability, and multimodality.

The project has political support and identified locations and suppliers. Its impact is good in particular regarding the reduction of carbon footprint and air and noise emissions, the European Commission said.

The start of the project is planned for May 2018 and completion for December 2023.

The Connecting Europe Facility has so far approved EUR 22.3 billion worth grants for 341 projects. Under the CEF program, EUR 23.2 billion is available for grants from the EU’s 2014-2020 budget.

Croatia has received EUR 424.4 million for 32 selected projects, while Slovenia was granted EUR 318.1 million for 31 projects.

Croatian applicants submitted 54 eligible proposals while Slovenian applicants submitted 52.