General conditions

1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes

5. Evaluation and award:

• Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes

• Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual

• Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes

Specific conditions

7. Specific conditions: described in the specific topic of the Work Programme

Documents

Call documents:

Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System

Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)

Standard application form (HE RIA IA Stage 1)

Standard application form (HE CSA)

Standard application form (HE CSA Stage 1)

Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations

Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)

Standard evaluation form (HE CSA)

Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA and CSA Stage 1)

MGA

HE General MGA v1.0

HE Unit MGA v1.0

Call-specific instructions

Detailed budget table (HE LS)

Information on financial support to third parties (HE)

Additional documents:

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide

HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695

HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764

EU Financial Regulation

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Project results are expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:

• Improved designs, architectures and models of interoperable multipoint megawatt charging systems for future mass deployment of Heavy-Duty trucks and concepts for managing their grid impact.
• Tools to identify the energy needs and the charging profiles of the electric vehicles that are expected to charge on megawatt charging systems.
• Integrated and flexible interaction control and energy management based on interoperable and open protocols between on-board and off-board charging-related components and the local grid demand flexibility providers, renewable electricity generation and energy storage systems,
• Improved modelling of the optimal geographical locations for large-scale megawatt charging hubs for Heavy and Medium Duty Vehicles and multiplexed Light Duty passenger/commercial vehicles usage at traffic peak times while also considering the relevant challenges to the grids and their mitigation with smart charging concepts, in consideration of locally available energy grids capacities and local energy storage.
• Tools and services for planning, operation, availability and reliability of the overall megawatt charging multipoint hubs from users’ perspectives (vehicle driver, fleet manager) and grid operators and energy providers.
• Highly energy efficient megawatt-charging hubs, also with optimal utilisation of multi-point megawatt charging stations for HDV-users but also considering other types of vehicles.
• The proposed concept for a charging stations with at least four flexible megawatt charging points of 1MW or more will be demonstrated at the end of the project, each of these points being in turn also capable of recharging at least four lighter vehicles.

Next generation battery electric vehicles need to be more energy efficient and affordable, which means to keep battery size to the practical minimum. Megawatt charging is then required to meet the demand for long operational range with even shorter charging times. Ultra-high-power charging on-board and off-board sub-systems design is, as a first step, covered in topic HORIZON-CL5-2022-D5-01-08. The present topic covers their evolution towards multi-charger hubs that cater for a widespread deployment of these vehicles on the 2030 horizon. Limited on-board systems optimisation may be included if properly justified. At the same time each charger in these charging hubs will be usable for multiple lighter vehicles with lower power (150-350 kW) during peak times such as weekend or holiday periods, when demand from heavy duty vehicles may be lower. This will also require concepts for topologies capable for accommodating one heavy vehicle or 4-6 light vehicles in each charging spot.

Proposals are expected to address all the following aspects:

• Consider typical demands along significant TEN-T corridors, including under severe weather and peak conditions, as well as opportunities for sharing and balancing power supply within studied areas, locations of logistics terminals and truck stops with nearby depots for overnight charging of trucks, buses, and construction machines, car-parking etc.
• Input from EU Member States/Associated countries’ maps with aggregated charging demands and expected high power charging station localisations as well as input from grid operators on power system local and regional conditions is also expected. Such terminals/ hubs for charging should offer charging on non-discriminatory basis.
• Particular attention should be paid to the real needs of end users, including optimised infrastructure locations, its reverse impact on the traffic flow, ease of use and interoperable protocols that do not hinder universal use across different countries; the identification and analysis of potential regulatory aspects and barriers for relevant standardisation activities is encouraged.
• The developed tools should have the capability to map the optimal locations for a fast and high-power charging infrastructure (already built-up logistics hubs, truck service centres, truck and bus depots, and for new ones also considering the permitting process), offering planning information including to the developers of the targeted infrastructure. For optimisation of the overall system use, services and tools should be developed keeping into account on-board EV system characteristics.

Topic is open to international collaboration, in particular regarding interface specifications (e.g. with the USA).

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on ‘Towards zero emission road transport’ (2ZERO). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on the results to the European Partnership ‘Towards zero emission road transport’ (2ZERO) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.