The European Commission on March 28, 2011 presented its new White Paper “Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system” (COM2011/144) adopted a roadmap of 40 concrete initiatives for the next decade to build a competitive transport system that will increase mobility, remove major barriers in key areas and fuel growth and employment. The EU also announced its ambition to half the number of conventional fuelled vehicles in cities by 2030 and to reduce Europe’s dependence on imported oil and cut carbon emissions in transport by 60% by 2050. The EU included a reference to its aim  to organise the  interface between long distance and  last-mile freight transport  more efficiently, indicating that “this could be performed with low emission urban trucks. The use of electric, hydrogen and hybrid technologies would  not only reduce air emissions, but also noise, allowing a greater portion of freight  transport within the urban areas to take  place at night time.”

The Commission also indicated that it will examine the possibility of a European support framework for progressive implementation of Urban Mobility Plans in European cities and to integrate urban mobility in a possible Smart Cities Innovation Partnership. More information on the White Paper on the EU DG MOVE website

EHA joined HyER (formerly HyRaMP), the JTI Industry Grouping, NEW IG,  Fuel Cell Europe and the JTI Program office in preparing a position paper.