Fuel price comparison

Art. 7.3 of Directive 2014/94/EU “on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure” stipulates that "Where appropriate, when displaying fuel prices at a fuel station, in particular for natural gas and hydrogen, comparison between the relevant unit prices shall be displayed for information purposes".

As different conventional and alternative fuels are marketed in different sales units, comprehensive and transparent information for consumers is considered a prerequisite for consumer awareness of alternative fuels and their successful market penetration. The establishment of an easily understandable fuel price system for consumers regarding the different fuels in a common price unit would enable consumers to better evaluate the relative costs of each fuel available on the market.

The costs of refuelling or recharging conventional and alternatively fuelled vehicles can differ significantly. The awareness of potential cost savings over the life-cycle use of vehicles can be of valuable assistance to consumers when they are purchasing new vehicles and face upfront costs of alternatively fuelled vehicles, still higher than conventional ones’.

The Commission has adopted, by means of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/732, a common methodology for alternative fuels unit price comparison. The date of application of this regulation was amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/858 and shall apply from 7 December 2020. From this date, fuel prices must be displayed in panels, banners or monitors in €/National currency per 100 km in a certain number of fuel stations to be identified by Member States.

The display of fuel prices concerns conventional fuels and alternative fuels as specified in Art. (2) of Directive 2014/94/EU, in particular for electricity, hydrogen, liquefied petroleum gas and natural gas, without excluding other alternative fuels such as biofuels and biofuels’ blends in conventional fuels if marketed separately from conventional fuels’ blends.

The display of fuel prices in Euros/National currency per 100 km is for comparison purposes only and doesnot intend to replace the current way to determine sale prices (e.g. Euros/litre diesel, Euros/litre petrol, Euros/kg natural gas and Euros/kWh for electricity) and their display on the receipt ticket and at fuel pumps.

The display of prices in (Euros/National currency per 100 km) at filling stations should be done for specific models of vehicles with similar powers, sizes (e.g. same segment/s) to be selected by each Member State.

The price expressed in Euros/National currency per 100 km is calculated taking into account the fuel price in Euros/National currency per conventional unit and the fuel consumption per 100 km as indicated in the certificate of conformity of vehicles. Fuel prices per conventional unit are the average prices of these fuels for the previous calendar quarter to the display of the prices at Euros/National currency per km at filling stations.

The location and way of displaying prices at filling station should be defined, where appropriate, by Member States. In addition, Member States should make available an online tool allowing calculating the fuel prices in the common unit for all vehicle models running with different fuels. The display at filling stations shall refer to this online tool for further information. The advantage of this online tool would be to provide updated information on fuel prices.

A Programme Support Action (PSA) funded under the “Connecting Facility Programme” was devoted to assist Member States with the implementation of Art. 7.3 of Directive 2014/94/EU. The following Member States participated in the implementation of this PSA: Greece (the Coordinator), Cyprus, Germany, Finland, France, Croatia, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

The PSA has delivered recommendations to the Member States on the implementation of Art. 7.3 of the of Directive 2014/94/EU. These recommendations were drawn from the cooperation of the implementing consortium, from the interactions with the relevant stakeholders, as well as from the results of pilot actions and of an online questionnaire survey.

Disclaimer: The below overview table was created by EAFO on the basis of data received from the Member States in accordance with their obligations under the Implementing Regulation on a common methodology for alternative fuels unit price comparison. The precise data received from the Member States can be found below the table, on this page, as downloadable documents. Where data was submitted in a currency other than EUR, a three month average EUR rate was used for conversion. Where fuel prices were provided for different models, or for different vehicle categories, a simple average of the fuel prices across these models or vehicles categories was used for the comparison. Similarly, where recharging prices were distinguished between home and (slow or fast) public recharging, a weighted average was used, based on average recharging behaviour accross the EU. Please note that some Member States have only provided recharging prices for home recharging.

For country level methodological inquiries, please write us an email: ec-alternative-fuels-observatory@ec.europa.eu .

Average cost of fuel per 100km by European country (2022 1st quarter)

*compressed biomethane