EV Charger ScoutIf you've driven an EV in Europe recently, you may have noticed something changing about motorway service areas: more fast chargers, cleaner signage, and — increasingly — a contactless payment terminal on the charger itself so you can charge without creating an account. That's not accidental. It's the result of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation, known as AFIR, a binding EU law that came into force in April 2024 and is progressively changing what charging infrastructure looks like across 27 member states. By 2026, AFIR's most significant milestones are either active or imminent. Here's what the regulation actually requires, what it means for EV drivers traveling in Europe, and what it means for charging networks operating across the continent.
What AFIR Is and Why It Matters
AFIR — Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 — replaced the earlier Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive (AFID) with a critical change in legal structure. A Directive requires each member state to transpose its requirements into national law, creating variation between countries in timing and enforcement. A Regulation applies directly and uniformly across all EU member states without transposition, which means the same rules apply on day one in Germany, Portugal, Hungary, and Croatia alike.
The regulation covers multiple alternative fuel types — hydrogen refueling, LNG shipping, shore power for vessels — but its most immediate impact for most people is the requirements it sets for electric vehicle charging along the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), specifically its Core and Comprehensive road corridors. These are the major highways connecting European cities and crossing borders: the A1 through Germany, the E45 through Scandinavia, the AP-7 along Spain's Mediterranean coast, and similar trunk routes.
The Core Requirements: What 60 km Means in Practice
AFIR's headline mandate is that by the end of 2025, every 60 km along TEN-T Core Network Corridors must have a publicly accessible EV charging pool capable of delivering at least 150 kW DC fast charging. By the end of 2027, the same requirement extends to TEN-T Comprehensive Network Corridors, and the minimum power requirement at those sites scales upward as well.
A "charging pool" in AFIR terms is a site with at least two DC fast chargers sharing a total output capacity. Single-stall sites do not satisfy the requirement — the regulation specifically mandates redundancy so that a single hardware failure doesn't strand drivers waiting for repair.
| Deadline | Requirement | Network Scope |
|---|---|---|
| End of 2025 | 150 kW pool every 60 km | TEN-T Core Corridors |
| End of 2027 | 150–300 kW pool every 60 km | TEN-T Comprehensive Network |
| End of 2030 | Further scaling, urban coverage targets | Urban nodes + all TEN-T |
| 2027 onwards | Hydrogen refueling every 200 km | TEN-T Core |
The 60 km interval requirement is measured along the road, not as a straight-line distance. In mountainous areas where roads wind significantly — the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Carpathians — operators must place stations where drivers can actually reach them, which sometimes means shorter actual gaps due to topography.
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Ad-Hoc Payment: The End of Account-Only Charging
One of AFIR's most practically significant requirements is the mandatory ad-hoc payment provision. From April 2024 onwards, any new publicly accessible DC fast charger with a rated output above 50 kW must accept ad-hoc payment — meaning a driver who has no account with the network, no RFID card, and no app must still be able to pay and charge.
The specification is explicit: contactless bank card payment (ISO/IEC 14443 NFC, covering Visa, Mastercard, and co-branded cards) or a credit/debit card terminal must be physically present on or beside the charger. This is a significant shift for the European market, where networks like IONITY, Allego, and Fastned historically required either a network-specific account or a roaming agreement to start a session.
By 2026, most major networks have complied. IONITY deployed card readers across its fleet starting in 2023 and completed the rollout by mid-2024. Fastned, Allego, EnBW, Recharge, and Virta are similarly equipped. Smaller operators on rural routes are the laggards — their compliance timelines depend on when each member state's competent authority enforces the regulation.
Ad-hoc rates at IONITY, Allego, and similar premium networks are significantly higher than subscription rates. If you drive in Europe regularly, setting up a subscription or using a roaming card (such as Plugsurfing, Chargemap, or your OEM plan) will consistently save 30–60% compared to tap-and-pay pricing. Use ad-hoc payment as a fallback, not a default.
Connector Standards Under AFIR
AFIR mandates that new public DC fast chargers in the EU must provide at least one CCS2 (IEC 62196-3 "combo 2") outlet per charging point. CCS2 is the established European fast charging standard and is the default plug on every European-spec EV currently sold from Volkswagen Group, Stellantis, Hyundai, Kia, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, and others. CHAdeMO is not required under AFIR and is being phased out of new EU installations as the last CHAdeMO-native mass-market EV (Nissan LEAF) transitions.
NACS (J3400) is not mandated by AFIR and has not been adopted as a European standard. Tesla Superchargers in Europe use CCS2 — Tesla switched from its proprietary connector to CCS2 for European installations starting in 2018 and has since added CCS2 to all new European Supercharger stalls. This means the NACS adapter question that dominates North American EV discussions is not relevant for drivers in Europe.
AC Level 2 Requirements
AFIR also addresses AC charging. New publicly accessible AC chargers must provide at least one Type 2 (IEC 62196-2) connector per point — this is the standard mode of charging at parking garages, hotels, destination chargers, and urban charging hubs across Europe. Single-phase Type 2 delivers 7.4 kW; three-phase delivers up to 22 kW. The regulation doesn't require 22 kW everywhere but mandates Type 2 socket compatibility so any EV with a Type 2 inlet can use any compliant public AC point.
Price Display Requirements
AFIR includes a pricing transparency requirement that takes full effect in 2025. Operators must display the price per kWh (or per minute, but per kWh is the clear format preference) at the charger itself — not buried in an app, not requiring a login to see. This is a direct response to years of consumer complaints about opaque pricing at public charging stations.
In practice, this has pushed networks toward clearer charger display screens and, in many cases, has accelerated the move toward kWh-based pricing (as opposed to per-minute billing, which makes it impossible for a driver to know the effective cost without knowing their car's acceptance rate). Per-minute billing is still legal under AFIR but must be displayed clearly alongside the estimated kWh equivalent where technically feasible.
Impact on Popular Travel Routes
UK: Not Directly Covered
The United Kingdom left the EU before AFIR came into force and is not subject to the regulation. The UK has its own equivalent — the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations and the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 — which include ad-hoc payment requirements and connector standards for new public chargers, broadly mirroring the AFIR approach but without the distance-interval mandates. If you're driving a UK-registered EV into Europe via the Channel Tunnel or ferry, you move from UK rules to EU rules at the border; both now require contactless payment, so the practical experience is consistent.
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Norway, Switzerland, and Non-EU EEA Countries
Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein are EEA members but not EU members. AFIR applies to them under the EEA Agreement, meaning the same requirements take effect on the same timelines. Switzerland, which has bilateral agreements with the EU but is not in the EEA, is aligning its charging infrastructure law with AFIR requirements on a voluntary basis — Swiss motorway operator ASTRA has committed to CCS2 and ad-hoc payment compliance on A-road corridors.
For Visitors From Outside Europe
If you're renting an EV in Europe — a common approach for visitors from North America, Australia, or Asia — AFIR's practical effects are genuinely useful. You can now rent any EV, drive on any major EU highway, and pay for fast charging with any contactless bank card without setting up a European charging account. The 60 km spacing requirement means you should never be far from a usable fast charger on TEN-T corridors by the end of 2025.
When renting an EV in Europe, confirm with the rental company whether a roaming card is included with the vehicle. Many premium rental companies now include a Plugsurfing or Chargemap card — these give you access to thousands of chargers at subscription rates, which are significantly cheaper than ad-hoc pricing at the same charger. If no card is included, bring a contactless credit card you can tap directly on the EVSE terminal.
What AFIR Doesn't Fix
AFIR is a significant step forward, but it has real limitations. The 60 km requirement covers TEN-T corridors — the major trunk roads. Secondary roads, rural areas, and islands are outside the current scope. A driver touring Crete, the Scottish Highlands, rural Romania, or the interior of Portugal will still encounter significant coverage gaps that AFIR does not directly address.
The regulation also cannot mandate uptime. A charger that exists but is consistently out of service technically satisfies the letter of AFIR's deployment requirement while failing drivers in practice. The regulation does include a framework for reliability reporting, but enforcement of uptime targets remains a work in progress across member states as of early 2026.
Payment interoperability — the ability to use any account or card at any charger — has improved but is not yet fully seamless. AFIR requires ad-hoc contactless payment, not full open roaming. A charging account registered with one network will work at another only if a roaming agreement exists between them. Platforms like OCPI (Open Charge Point Interface) are the technical backbone for this roaming layer, and adoption is widespread but not universal.
Practical Advice for 2026 EU EV Travel
- →On TEN-T Core Corridors, spacing anxiety is mostly resolved. The infrastructure deployment required by the end of 2025 means you can plan a CCS2-based cross-border trip on major motorways with confidence that fast charging will be available at regular intervals.
- →Always carry a contactless bank card as backup. Even with roaming cards and OEM apps, having a Visa or Mastercard with NFC capability ensures you can always start a session at any AFIR-compliant charger.
- →Budget for ad-hoc rates on non-motorway stops. Destination chargers at hotels, shopping centers, and supermarkets are not covered by the same ad-hoc payment requirement as highway fast chargers. These sites may still require a network-specific app.
- →Use EV Charger Scout to verify station locations before setting out. While AFIR mandates deployment, coverage quality varies by country. Checking real-time data from OpenChargeMap (which feeds EV Charger Scout's international results) lets you confirm station presence and read any recent user reports before you leave your accommodation.
- →Eastern Europe has more gaps than Western Europe. Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria have made progress, but TEN-T Comprehensive Network coverage — required by 2027 — is still sparse on some routes. Budget additional planning time for east–west journeys through these countries in 2025–2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is AFIR and why does it matter for EV drivers?
AFIR — the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (EU 2023/1804) — is a binding EU law that came into force in April 2024 and applies directly and uniformly across all 27 member states. It replaced the earlier AFID directive, so the same charging-infrastructure rules apply on day one in Germany, Portugal, Hungary, and Croatia alike, progressively reshaping fast charging along major European highways.
What does AFIR's 60 km charging requirement mean?
By the end of 2025, every 60 km along TEN-T Core Network Corridors must have a publicly accessible charging pool delivering at least 150 kW DC fast charging, extending to Comprehensive Corridors by the end of 2027. A charging pool must have at least two DC fast chargers for redundancy, and the 60 km interval is measured along the road rather than as a straight line.
Can I charge in Europe without a network account?
Yes. AFIR's ad-hoc payment provision requires any new publicly accessible DC fast charger above 50 kW to accept contactless bank card payment, so a driver with no account, RFID card, or app can still pay and charge. Be aware that ad-hoc rates at premium networks like IONITY and Allego are significantly higher — a subscription or roaming card can save 30–60% versus tap-and-pay.
Which connectors does AFIR require?
AFIR mandates at least one CCS2 outlet per DC charging point and at least one Type 2 connector per AC point. CCS2 is the established European standard on every European-spec EV, and Tesla's European Superchargers already use CCS2. CHAdeMO is not required and is being phased out, and NACS is not mandated in Europe — so the North American adapter debate isn't relevant for European drivers.
What does AFIR not fix?
AFIR covers TEN-T trunk corridors, so secondary roads, rural areas, and islands like Crete or the Scottish Highlands still have coverage gaps. It can't mandate uptime — a charger that exists but is frequently broken technically still complies — and it requires ad-hoc payment rather than full open roaming, so cross-network account use depends on roaming agreements. Eastern Europe also has more gaps than Western Europe.
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