National Policy Framework for the Development of the Market as regards Alternative Fuels in the Transport Sector and the Deployment of the Relevant Infrastructure

The National Policy Framework for the Development of the Market as regards Alternative Fuels in the Transport Sector and the Deployment of the Relevant Infrastructure was elaborated in compliance with the requirements set out in Article 3 of Directive 2014/94/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure.

It was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria with Decision No 87/26 January 2017 and amended with Decision No 323/11 May 2018.

The National Policy Framework expresses the government vision actively to support the development of alternative fuels in the transport sector in order to meet the defined national targets in the field of energy, transport and environment policy. The global purpose of the framework is to establish a favourable environment for commercial development of alternative fuels and propulsion in transport sector and to achieve comparable conditions in the field with other EU Member states.

In a long-term horizon (after 2030) the main objectives are related to the full deployment of electromobility, wider use of natural gas as standard fuel and market uptake of hydrogen technologies.

The key principle, on which the National Policy Framework is elaborated, is the principle of technological neutrality in terms of avoiding the support from the public and private sector only to one type of alternative fuels. The current state of the infrastructure for different types of alternative fuels used in road, waterborne and air transport is presented in the document.

There are proposed objectives, options and potential measures with respect to:

  • Market deployment of electric and hydrogen-powered motor vehicles and the construction of the relevant charging infrastructure for them
  • Construction of refuelling infrastructure for compressed and liquefied natural gas
  • Shore-side electricity supply in maritime and inland ports
  • Liquefied natural gas supply in maritime and inland ports.