Romania powers up CEE’s largest EV hub to support EU Green Deal transport targets

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In a new step in the cleaner transport transition, OMV Petrom has inaugurated Romania’s largest electric vehicle (EV) hub with 34 charging points of up to 400kW on the A1 motorway near Miercurea Sibiului, central Romania.

The site is located on the Rhine-Danube Corridor – one of Romania’s busiest freight routes – part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), and aims to improve long-distance EV travel and support freight decarbonisation in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.

OMV wrote in a press release that “the main objective of the project is to create a corridor of alternative fuel infrastructure of electricity fast-charging stations on the TEN-T road network, in existing refueling stations.”

Lorries can reach full-charge in 1.5-2 hours

The development further positions Romania as a strategic player in Europe’s wider push for decarbonisation. By expanding high-capacity charging along key transit routes, the project addresses one of the region’s biggest obstacles to electric vehicle adoption: charging accessibility on long-haul corridors. Backed by EU funds, the initiative represents a shift in the readiness of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to meet the EU’s Green Deal transport targets.

OMV Petrom Executive Board Member responsible for Refining and Marketing Radu Caprau said “this section of the A1 is one of Romania’s main commercial routes,” adding that “Our strategy includes the expansion of high-power charging infrastructure to support the decarbonisation of transport.”

“Romania’s mobility transformation is unfolding as planned- and it’s happening right now. We’re accelerating our efforts and have just launched the country’s largest EV charging hub. Standard electric vehicles can charge fully in just 15-20 minutes, remarkably fast. Even electric trucks can reach full charge in 1.5-2 hours, which is a major improvement over traditional overnight charging,” Caprau added.

EU-backed expansion plan

The project is part of the Accelerate the Central and East European Ultra-Fast Charging initiative, co-funded by the EU through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The CEF aims to deploy 408 publicly accessible ultra-fast EV charging points across Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.

Romania will host 328 of these points across 80 locations, as OMV Petrom coordinates the project with OMV Hungaria and OMV Slovensko. The total investment is estimated at EUR 39mn, with EUR 15mn coming from the EU. The rest is financed by bank credit and OMV Petrom’s own resources.

OMV Petrom operates around 780 petrol stations in Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria and Serbia, and has a network of around 1,000 EV stations. It plans to create Romania’s largest EV charging network, of over 5,000 charging points, by 2030. More than 10% of new car sales in Romania are of battery electric vehicles, the highest share in CEE by far.

Regional rollout still lags EU pace

Despite progress, the region’s EV charging rollout still lags behind Western Europe. Most CEE countries lack dense networks outside capital cities and key transport corridors. Experts say that balancing high-speed hubs with wider coverage will be key to closing the gap.

According to data from the European Alternative Fuels Observatory, the EU needs at least 8.8mn public charging points by 2030 to meet its climate and mobility goals. Yet, most CEE countries remain well short of even intermediate milestones.

Romania, despite its leadership in the region, still lacks sufficient nationwide coverage beyond major highways and urban centres. The picture is even more challenging in countries like Slovakia, Croatia, and Hungary, where charging networks remain heavily concentrated in capital cities and cross-border corridors, leaving rural and secondary routes underserved.

The gridX 2025 European EV Charging Report researched the number of charging points, total recharging power output and the size of countries’ light-duty plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) fleets, the average charging power per point and the ratio of vehicles per charging station, two key metrics that influence the accessibility and efficiency of national charging networks.

While Bulgaria and Estonia stand out for high average power per point, countries like Hungary and Poland face higher vehicle-to-charger ratios, pointing to potential bottlenecks as EV adoption accelerates. This imbalance highlights the need for coordinated investment not only in expanding the number of chargers, but also in balancing charging capacity with growing vehicle demand, to avoid infrastructure gaps as the region moves toward wider EV adoption.

Dearth of lower power chargers in CEE

Additionally, CEE countries tend to prioritise high-power charging stations to boost headline capacity figures. While this improves charging speed on key routes, it risks neglecting the widespread deployment of lower-cost, lower-power chargers that are essential for everyday urban and suburban use. This infrastructure gap is compounded by lower EV adoption rates in many CEE markets, which in turn weakens the commercial case for private investment in public charging networks.

EU programmes such as the CEF and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RFF) offer funding, but many CEE countries face difficulties accessing these funds due to complex procedures and co-financing requirements.

Industry experts warn that without stronger policy incentives and EU-backed financing mechanisms, CEE countries risk falling further behind as Western Europe accelerates toward mass-market EV adoption.

Policy and funding gaps hinder regional progress

A major obstacle to CEE’s EV infrastructure expansion is the fragmented policy environment across the region. While EU regulations such as the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) set binding targets for charger deployment, the pace of national implementation varies widely.

Some countries, including Romania and Poland, have introduced national funding schemes to support private operators in expanding networks. Others, including Bulgaria and Croatia, have yet to establish clear long-term strategies or sufficient public financing mechanisms to meet their EU obligations.

Accessing EU funds also remains a challenge for many CEE states. While mechanisms such as the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) provide financing opportunities, complicated application procedures, co-financing requirements, and administrative bottlenecks have limited uptake in parts of the region.

In addition, a lack of consistent urban mobility policies and insufficient coordination between national, regional, and municipal authorities have led to uneven charger deployment within countries. This is particularly evident in rural areas and smaller towns, which risk being left behind in the transition to electric mobility.

Experts argue that a more coherent regional approach, backed by targeted EU funding and streamlined administrative procedures, is needed to close the gap. Without this, CEE risks becoming a two-speed region within the EU, with a handful of frontrunners outpacing neighbours that continue to lag on the path to electrification.

Moreover, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA), Norway and Sweden dominate EV adoption in Europe, but Romania leads CEE, with more than 10% of new car sales being fully electric. Other CEE countries, such as Slovenia, Latvia and Lithuania, also show growing adoption, though most remain well below the EU average.

The EEA dataset serves as a reference point for policymakers, industry players and investors monitoring Europe’s transition to low-emission mobility, providing insight on regulatory support and infrastructure investment impact. The data also informs the European Commission’s assessment of member states’ progress toward the EU’s 2030 climate and transport goals.