The European Commission has approved €45 million ($52.9 million) for the Chech plan to develop a network of refueling and recharging stations for vehicles running on alternative fuels.
The scheme provides support of €44.5 million over six years for the construction of publicly accessible recharging and refueling stations for vehicles running on alternative fuels such as electricity, compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen.
The infrastructure network will cover the entire country, the European Commission said, adding that companies already active in the alternative fuels sector can apply for this support, which will be awarded in four separate calls for tender.
The Czech Republic demonstrated that the aid was necessary to incentivize operators to develop the national network at the required pace and density.
The measure will encourage a significant uptake of vehicles running on alternative fuels, and therefore make an important contribution towards meeting the common interest of reducing emissions and improving air quality, the European Commission said in its statement.
The Commission concluded that the scheme’s contribution to EU environmental goals outweighs any potential distortion of competition brought about by the public financing and approved the Czech plans under EU state aid rules.
1 EUR = 1.17498 USD