February saw the leak of a draft of the EU Industrial Accelerator Act. It proposes that 70% of an electric vehicle must be EU-made to qualify for public procurement and publicly supported projects. The Act doesn’t target charging infrastructure directly. But if local content rules raise vehicle prices or slow BEV sales, public charging utilization takes the hit. The full proposal is expected on March 4.
In the US, a federal court restored $5 billion in NEVI funding after ruling the funding freeze unlawful. Days later, a proposed Buy America waiver raised the domestic materials requirement for chargers from 55% to 100%. With today’s global supply chains, few chargers could meet it. The program the court ordered to resume could stall again.
Meanwhile, IEC 63379 became the first published international standard for megawatt charging, the EU Sustainable Transport Forum proposed new AFIR roles for smart and bidirectional charging, a Munich court struck down the city’s charging procurement for a second time, a Dutch report exposed a price transparency gap in business fleet charging, and AMPECO helped shape policy recommendations for the Commission’s Study on Smart & Bidirectional Charging.
Here’s what changed in February and what it means for your operations.
Regulatory developments
EU Industrial Accelerator Act proposes local content mandates
A leaked draft of the Industrial Accelerator Act, now delayed to March 4, 2026, after four missed deadlines, proposes EU-origin requirements of 70% for electric vehicles, 25% for aluminum, and 30% for plastics in public procurement and publicly supported projects. The delay reflects sustained internal disagreement and a formal US rejection of European preference rules.
Why this matters for EV charging:
The EV charging sector is exposed indirectly. If local content mandates suppress BEV volumes or raise vehicle prices, public charging utilization contracts. That directly threatens the commercial viability of CPOs operating on thin margins against optimistic adoption forecasts.
The hardware risk is less immediate but worth tracking. DC fast chargers rely heavily on non-EU power electronics and semiconductors. If the Act’s “Made in EU” logic extends downstream into publicly funded charging infrastructure, as Buy America mandates have done in the US, EV charging hardware manufacturers and CPOs drawing on public support could face compliance obligations where European supply alternatives aren’t yet competitive in terms of efficiency or reliability.
IEC 63379 establishes the first international MCS standard
Heavy-duty electric vehicles have had a chicken-and-egg problem. Fleet operators won’t commit to electric trucks without reliable high-power charging. Infrastructure providers won’t deploy megawatt-scale chargers without a standard that guarantees interoperability across manufacturers. That standard now exists.
IEC 63379, developed through CharIN’s technical Focus Groups, has been officially published. It establishes, for the first time, a harmonized international framework for Megawatt Charging Systems (MCS). Manufacturers, operators, and testing bodies now have a clear technical baseline to build against, removing one of the biggest barriers to deploying heavy-duty charging at scale.
This builds on the heavy-duty priorities discussed at the Sustainable Transport Forum in November.
Why this matters for EV charging:
MCS targets a different segment than the passenger infrastructure governed by AFIR, but the ripple effects are worth tracking. Standardization builds procurement confidence, accelerates investment timelines, and tends to pull regulatory frameworks along. Compliance testing is already on the horizon, with CharIN’s Testival Europe 2026, hosted by ElaadNL and co-hosted by Milence, featuring dedicated MCS testing.
EU Sustainable Transport Forum proposes new AFIR roles for smart and bidirectional charging
Right now, AFIR treats everyone plugging in as a single “end user.” That made sense when charging meant one driver, one cable, one transaction. It doesn’t work when the same charger might serve a fleet operator running demand response, a building owner offering workplace charging, or a homeowner selling energy back to the grid.
The EU Sustainable Transport Forum is working to fix this. A joint report with the Coalition of the Willing and the Data 4 Energy group proposes splitting “end user” into distinct roles: EV Driver, EV Owner, and Fleet Operator. It also introduces a new one, the Electric Vehicle System Operator (EVSO), responsible for secure, consent-based data exchange between vehicles and third parties.
This builds on the direction set at the V2G Summit in November, where the Commission positioned V2G as a grid service rather than a consumer feature.
Why this matters for EV charging:
Without clearly defined roles, the contractual and technical responsibilities for smart and bidirectional charging remain ambiguous. That ambiguity is what’s holding back investment. For the AFIR revision, this framework would expand the regulation’s scope to accommodate the multi-party setups that semi-public and private charging actually require. It would give operators the financial and operational headroom to build beyond basic power delivery.
Munich court strikes down city’s charging procurement in Qwello case
The Administrative Court of Munich (Az. M 28 K 23.147) has invalidated the city’s selection procedure for public EV charging infrastructure on two grounds. The process unlawfully favored charge points operated by Stadtwerke München, and the City Council’s resolution lacked an adequate legal basis.
Qwello has been trying to deploy public charge points in Munich since 2017, offering to install them at no cost. Its permit applications covering more than 1,600 charge points were rejected in 2023 based on a pending procurement process, which was itself annulled as unlawful. A second selection procedure in 2025 has now also been struck down.
Why this matters for EV charging:
This is a concrete example of how municipal procurement processes and administrative inertia can obstruct AFIR compliance timelines. Qwello states it could deploy charge points within two weeks of permit approval. The ruling exposes the legal risk cities face when procurement doesn’t meet EU standards, and the real cost of delay in infrastructure deployment.
Dutch report exposes price transparency gap in business EV charging
A report from the Nationaal Kennisplatform Laadinfrastructuur (NKL Nederland), published February 11, 2026, reveals a structural transparency gap in how EV charging is priced for the Dutch business and lease market. That segment accounts for the majority of electric kilometers driven in the Netherlands.
AFIR requires CPOs to display pricing clearly before, during, and after sessions. In practice, employers, who bear the actual cost, have no visibility into prices before or during sessions. Employers contract a single eMSP for their fleet but have no direct relationship with CPOs. eMSPs invoice the total cost but aren’t required to disclose the underlying CPO price, the markup, or additional connection fees. Price verification is practically impossible. Employees can theoretically check prices through QR codes or apps, but fewer than half do.
Why this matters for EV charging:
This isn’t a Dutch problem. It’s a structural flaw in how AFIR’s transparency provisions interact with the reality of business charging across Europe. The report calls for clarity on what “correct and complete price transparency” means under AFIR, as well as clear regulatory responsibilities for CPOs and MSPs across the full session lifecycle.
Notably, it recommends against layering national requirements on top of AFIR, recognizing this is an international market. Instead, it urges industry associations to develop a digital platform that aggregates charge-point pricing across all MSP combinations, enabling employers to compare and audit costs at scale for the first time.
Funding and incentive updates
NEVI funding restored, but a Buy America catch looms
A federal court ruling on January 27, 2026, declared the freeze on $5 billion in NEVI funding unlawful. States and operators can no longer be denied authorized federal subsidies for non-statutory reasons, restoring essential financial headroom for charging infrastructure investment. The ruling follows the legal challenges we covered in December.
Upcoming projects must meet the updated four-port, 150 kW simultaneous charging standards and non-proprietary access requirements to qualify for up to 80% cost coverage.
The catch: The administration has since proposed a strict new Buy America waiver requiring EV chargers to be made of 100% domestic materials to qualify for federal subsidies, up from the current 55% threshold. This would cover nearly all components, including iron, steel, and electronic internals. Given current global supply chain realities for components such as LCD displays and circuit boards, this is technically unfeasible. It effectively blocks the $5 billion program the courts ordered the administration to resume.
While the waiver is unresolved, state and utility programs remain important alternatives, including the California funding rounds we covered in January.
AMPECO leadership and advocacy
AMPECO contributes to the Commission’s Study on Smart & Bidirectional Charging
On February 6, AMPECO took part in a workshop organized by DG ENER to shape policy recommendations for the European Commission’s Study on Smart & Bidirectional Charging. Industry participants reviewed the study’s preliminary findings on key use cases and business models. The goal is a regulatory framework that is technically feasible and commercially viable across the EU.
In interactive sessions, AMPECO gave feedback on the study’s preliminary recommendations for V2X. We advocated for standards that support better smart charging integration and grid stability, so that operators can build smart and bidirectional services on a clear, workable framework.
The workshop sits alongside the Sustainable Transport Forum’s work on AFIR roles covered above. Together, they show the Commission building the policy foundation for smart and bidirectional charging from both the energy and transport sides.
What to watch in March
The EU Industrial Accelerator Act’s March 2026 legislative proposal will be the one to watch. We’ll track whether the final text extends local content logic to charging infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Dutch NKL report is likely to accelerate discussion of AFIR’s price transparency provisions ahead of the framework’s revision.
The DATEX II reporting deadline on April 14 is also now less than two months away.
Need help assessing local content exposure, NEVI eligibility, or AFIR price transparency obligations?
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