Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (AFIF)

What projects are eligible for funding?

The call covers projects with applications in

• road transport,
• maritime transport,
• inland waterways,
• rail transport and
• aviation.

With a budget of 1 billion euros, CEF AFIF 2024-2025 call supports the implementation of alternative fuel supply infrastructures along the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).

The call, which will end in 2025, will focus on:

• electric recharging stations, 
• hydrogen refuelling stations and 
• ammonia/methanol refuelling points 

along the main transport corridors of the European Union.

In addition to support for electric and hydrogen charging stations, new funding opportunities are presented, such as support for megawatt charging stations for heavy duty vehicles, electric and water infrastructure at airports, and electricity supply and bunkering facilities for ammonia and methanol at ports.

Eligible participants (eligible countries)

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies)
• be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.: be established in one of the Member States eligible for funding from the Cohesion Fund
• Entities from other countries are exceptionally eligible for projects of common interest in the field of transport if the granting authority considers their participation essential for the implementation of the action.

Applicants must have the know-how, qualifications and resources to successfully implement the projects and contribute their share (including sufficient experience in projects of comparable size and nature).

Budget

1 billion EUR is available under this call: EUR 780 million under the General envelope and EUR 220 million under the Cohesion envelope.

The AFIF will fund alternative fuels infrastructure by the combination of CEF grants with financial support from financial institutions to achieve a higher impact of the investment. National promotional banks, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will be Implementing Partners (IP) of the AFIF and will facilitate these operations. Other public or private financial institutions (Other FI), such as commercial banks, will also support the financing of the projects.

When to apply?

Applicants can submit their proposals before any of the three cut-off dates:

• 24 September 2024 at 17.00 (CET)
• 11 June 2025 at 17.00 (CET)
• 17 December 2025 at 17.00 (CET)

AFIF supports mature investment projects having received prior approval from the Member States where they will be implemented, and a pre-agreement with an Implementing Partner or a financial institution established in the EU to guarantee a loan to support the project.

AFIF supports mature investment projects having received a financing approval letter from an Implementing Partner or from a public or private financial institution established in the EU.

Funding rate and maximum grant amount

Union financial support with regard to the grants under the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility shall take the form of:

1. For topic CEF-T-2024-AFIFCOEN-UNITS: Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Facility - Unit Contributions:

The grant will be a unit grant. This means that it will reimburse a fixed amount per unit, based on unit costs, unit contributions or financing not linked to costs, as follows:

2. For topic CEF-T-2024-AFIFCOEN-COSTS: Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Facility – Co-funding Rate:

Background of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)

The aim of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) in the transport sector is supporting investments in the construction of new transport infrastructure in Europe or the renovation and upgrading of the existing infrastructure.

The objectives of the TEN-T policy are:

• the completion of the core network by 2030, built on nine multimodal corridors, and

• the completion of the comprehensive network by 2050 to facilitate access to all regions of Europe.

The figure shows nine core network corridors, two of which run through Slovenia (Mediterranean Corridor and Baltic-Adriatic Corridor).

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