Motorway gas stations: Area protection should be dropped because of e-charging stations

As the KURIER reported, the problem with this expansion is that the motorway filling station operators have contractual territorial protection. In order to expand e-charging stations in the first 21 rest areas, Asfinag had to conclude contracts with the oil companies OMV and Eni that enable the expansion of the charging infrastructure within the respective protection zones.

But these protection zones, which apply 10 to 30 kilometers around a motorway gas station in each direction, could no longer be applicable at all. “In accordance with the European AFIR regulation, which prescribes the mandatory expansion of e-charging stations along the EU’s main traffic axes, the Federal Ministry of Mobility is pursuing the goal of abolishing existing protection zones for the expansion of e-charging stations,” said Asfinag.

Main traffic axes

The main EU traffic axes in Austria include the A1 western motorway, the A2 southern motorway, the A4 eastern motorway, the A10 Tauern motorway, the A12 Inntal motorway and the A13 Brenner motorway.

“It is the federal government’s goal to also reflect the AFIR regulation in the Federal Roads Act in order to expand the charging infrastructure in the remaining high-ranking road network,” said the Ministry of Transport. “The necessary changes are currently being coordinated with the coalition partners. This is intended, among other things, to enable intervention in existing protection zones for the purpose of expanding the charging infrastructure.” A specific time frame cannot currently be given.

For the ministry, “the change in the law represents an important lever for the expansion of the charging infrastructure and thus for the mobility transition.”