EU cutting back on EV, hydrogen infrastructure targets

If only all of us were told that we could meet our goals and obligations by merely being "appropriate." That's the operative word being used to describe the European Union's goals for setting up publicly accessible electric-vehicle charging station and hydrogen refueling station infrastructure by the end of the decade. Turns out, the goals were unrealistic.

The UK estimated it'd be about 64,000 EV stations short of the goal.

The EU has cut the numbers of EV and hydrogen stations that member countries will have to deploy by 2020, since countries have squawked that the numbers couldn't reasonably be met, according to Auto Express. The UK, for example, estimated it'd be about 64,000 EV stations short of the goal. Now, the EU is saying that deployment of hydrogen and EV stations must reach an "appropriate" number by the end of the decade. How kind.

Taking the teeth out of the alt-fuel-station mandate is unfortunate because Europe recently started showing some solid momentum when it came to advanced-powertrain-vehicle sales, or at least those of the electric-vehicle variety. Through June, European EV sales jumped 91 percent from a year earlier, Automotive News Europe reported last month, citing JATO Dynamics. Nissan Leaf sales were up 56 percent from 2013, while the newer BMW i3 and Tesla Model S plug-ins also helped matters.

In fact, Tesla's been doing its part to make sure that its customers, at least, have a place to recharge throughout the continent. The California-based company, which installed its first European Supercharger station in Norway in August 2013, took just one year to put in 50 stations throughout Europe.