Saturday guests EU demands car charging points all over Finland – Minister Harakka worried about the Union’s desire to dictate “what color poles should there be”

In Finland For decades, there have been generally untrue conspiracies about unlicensed transport ministers. I also saw the current minister.

Minister of Transport and Communications Timo Harakka (sd) what kind of caries are you?

“Some on social media have claimed that the Minister of Transport does not have a driving license. I just turned 40 years old, ”says Harakka.

The magpie says the family car is a leased hybrid that travels 15,000 miles a year. The next car is reportedly already a fully electric car.

“This is where a huge revolution in traffic is happening. If we think about this transition, then within ten years a large part of us Finnish motorists will change cars, and then many will surely think about whether it would be an electric car. ”

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The magpie does not see that even the perceived high price of an electric car would be an obstacle to buying it. He believes car prices will fall.

“In addition, when operating costs are significantly lower, motorists will no longer be considering whether to afford an electric car in a few years.”

EU Commission last summer, it presented a proposal to transform the current AFI (alternative fuels infrastructure) directive into a binding regulation. The proposal is currently being negotiated in EU Member States and the European Parliament.

This so-called Distribution Information Directive provides guidelines for the regulation of charging and refueling infrastructure for alternative fuels. In Finland, a special distribution infrastructure law has been enacted.

The distribution infra has sought, among other things, to ensure that public refueling and refueling points for alternative fuels are technically compatible.

However, the EU Commission has now considered that, despite the directive, there are still significant gaps in distribution infrastructure at European level. It therefore wants to turn the directive into a regulation that is binding on the Member States, while promoting the use of low-emission fuels.

The European Court of Auditors has been in line with the Commission when it published its special report in the spring. In it, it noted that the introduction of an electric car charging network is fragmented, as there are no clear minimum requirements to guarantee EU-wide e-mobility.

The special report points out that the EU is still a long way from its goal of one million electric car charging points by 2025.

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“Within ten years, a large proportion of us Finnish motorists will change cars, and then many will surely think about whether it would be an electric car.”

Commission the proposal for a regulation sets out binding national minimum requirements for public charging and refueling infrastructure for road transport, alternative propulsion for ships and aircraft.

With regard to electric and gas cars, there is a traditional egg or chicken problem: does anyone buy cars if there are no electricity or gas distribution stations, and does anyone build distribution stations if there are no vehicles using them.

The magpie does not see a big problem here. He compares the situation to when smartphones began to become more common. Even then, their need was suspected because there were no applications to take advantage of them, the network could not be accessed, and even mobile data was expensive.

“The problems were miraculously solved at the same time,” he says.

“Suddenly, the egg or chicken question turned into a positive spiral, with demand fueling supply and better supply new demand. In the same way, I believe it will happen now, because we Finns are the early adopters of technology and there will be a rapid demand for supply. ”

European Commission binding minimum targets for infrastructure to be built along the trans-European transport network.

This is the so-called TEN-T network (Trans-European Transport Network), which consists of a narrower core network and a much wider comprehensive network.

In Finland, for example, the narrower core network includes about 1,100 kilometers of roads and some hubs important for land, air and water transport. According to a recent proposal by the EU Commission in December, extensions are coming to the network.

In road transport, infrastructure requirements apply to the charging of electricity for light and heavy vehicles and the distribution of hydrogen and liquefied natural gas.

The draft regulation contains very detailed requirements.

For example, Member States should ensure that, by the end of 2025, the core routes of the TEN-T network have a charging station that meets the minimum requirements at least every 60 km, and by the end of 2030, the same distance requirement will apply to the comprehensive TEN-T road network.

One commission the problems with the draft regulation are precisely its detail.

“We have national aspects involved,” says Harakka.

He points out that there are already about 6,500 recharging points in Finland and that almost all of Finland has recharging points every 50 kilometers and in southern and western Finland about every 25 kilometers.

“The charging and refueling network would seem to be quite easy to form on busy roads, but we need to consider what kind of social investment is being made where there is little traffic and what the right investment would be,” Harakka says.

“We need to be able to say very strongly to the EU that such schematic requirements for us to have electricity and hydrogen distribution stations every certain kilometer under certain conditions are out of the question in such a sparsely populated and long-distance country.”

According to Haraka, the EU must be able to twist things out of thick iron wire so that it is not worth exaggerating with rigid regulations.

“Some flexibility is needed here. We all have a strong commitment to zero emissions in all modes of transport. We do not need the most formulaic EU requirements for how the net should be laid out and what colors of poles should be there. ”

One in Finland The most difficult EU requirements for this are the Commission’s proposed regulations on hydrogen stations.

According to the Commission’s proposal, each Member State should ensure that there is a hydrogen refueling point along the TEN-T networks at least every 150 km by the end of 2030 and that there is at least one hydrogen refueling point at each urban node.

The Commission does not propose any flexibility in this requirement.

There are currently no operating hydrogen refueling stations or hydrogen trucks in Finland.

“As for hydrogen stations, it has to be said that this is a far-fetched thinking at this point. Flexibility is needed, and it must be borne in mind that we have exceptional geographical conditions, ”says Harakka.

Another problem that is obviously annoying to Harakka in the Commission’s proposal is that it does not take into account the use of biogas in heavy transport, maritime transport and in Finland as fuel for thousands of cars.

“If I put it bluntly, there is no understanding of transport gas in the EU,” he says.

Harakka points out that Finland’s strategy to halve traffic emissions involves, in addition to supporting electric cars, converting old cars to run on gas or ethanol.

“Gas is also being supported as a driving force for trucks, which is in use here and now and not until tomorrow,” he says.

“Biogas is perhaps even better than electricity or at least as good for its entire life cycle. Yes, I will defend it to the end. ”

Gas drivers The problem is also that the car industry invests mainly in electric cars.

“One car factory after another has announced that in a few years they will no longer manufacture internal combustion engines. We have a big struggle in that we are roughly the only one in the EU to maintain the proposition that gas cars also have a future, ”says Harakka.

“Our starting point has not been to get internal combustion cars out of the picture, and we have not been involved in initiatives to ban internal combustion cars because we see the role of gas and we see the role of sustainable biofuels.”