In brief

  • The Ministry of Transport has fully rewritten the e-MOVE RO state aid scheme, which funds electric vehicle charging stations away from motorways. Budget: 262 million euro, non-repayable money from the Modernisation Fund.
  • Up to 100% of eligible costs can be funded, with a maximum of 25 million euro per undertaking. The money does not go to whoever applies first: it is awarded through successive competitive bidding rounds, where the winner is the one asking for the least aid per kilowatt installed.
  • Beneficiaries may be micro-enterprises, SMEs and large firms, including public undertakings, but not newly established companies. The maximum number of beneficiaries is 50, and the scheme runs until 31 December 2028.
Act: Order MTI No. 755/2026
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) No. 660 of 10 August 2026
In force from: 10 August 2026

Companies wanting to electrify their fleet or open charging stations for the public now have the full map of a 262 million euro scheme. The Ministry of Transport did not amend a few articles: it replaced the entire annex of the 2025 order, so the text that matters for any future funding application is the one published on Monday. Order No. 755 of 6 August 2026 of the interim Minister of Transport and Infrastructure appeared in Official Gazette of Romania No. 660 of 10 August 2026 and is the second major scheme of its kind this summer, after the e-MOBILITY RO scheme, with 299 million euro for stations on motorways and national roads. The two complement rather than overlap: e-MOVE RO explicitly targets infrastructure outside the network managed by the National Company for Road Infrastructure Administration.

The scheme has three sub-measures, with separate budgets and separate bidding rounds. Sub-measure 1, with 66 million euro, funds the construction, installation, upgrading or extension of charging infrastructure, whether for the company’s own fleet, publicly accessible, or both. Sub-measure 2, with 92 million, adds on-site renewable energy generation and storage to fleet charging infrastructure. Sub-measure 3, the largest with 104 million, does the same for publicly accessible infrastructure.

The money comes from the Modernisation Fund, the European mechanism fed by the sale of emission allowances, and falls under Key Programme 9 on energy efficiency in transport. The administrator and provider of the aid is the Ministry of Transport itself, through its Directorate-General for European Transport Programmes. The Competition Council cleared the new form on 5 August 2026, with Opinion No. RG/12,524.

What it changes in practice

Full funding is possible, but only through competition. The maximum aid intensity is 100% of eligible costs, which is unusually generous. The reason lies in the mechanism: because the award is made through a competitive bidding procedure with criteria published at least six weeks before the submission deadline, European rules allow maximum intensity. In practice, whoever asks for 100% loses to whoever asks for less.

The tie-breaker is the public price per kilowatt. Scores are calculated on the basis of the aid requested relative to installed capacity, in euro per kilowatt installed. The lowest bid takes the maximum score, the highest takes zero, and intermediate values are interpolated linearly. Under sub-measure 3, where a project has two components, the final score is the average of the component scores. Where scores are tied, the project requesting the larger amount wins.

Two ceilings for a single firm. An undertaking may not receive more than 25 million euro in total across all bidding rounds of the scheme, nor more than 40% of the scheme’s total budget. The difference up to the total project value is borne by the beneficiary, from its own or attracted resources, which must not themselves be public aid.

Public stations have clear minimum technical requirements. For publicly accessible infrastructure, each location must have at least two 150 kW direct current points and at least one 350 kW high-power direct current point, where the opportunity analysis justifies it. Stations must support smart charging, accept payment instruments widely used in the Union, including electronic card payments, and be accessible on a non-discriminatory basis 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Charges to users other than the beneficiary must match market prices.

Where stations may not be placed. Infrastructure funded under this scheme may not sit on motorways, express roads or main national roads managed by the National Company for Road Infrastructure Administration, nor within 3 kilometres by road of the nearest motorway or express road exit. Airports are the exception, where siting is eligible regardless of these distances.

Obligations lasting five years after completion. The beneficiary commits to a durability period of 5 years during which it may not cease the activity, may not dispose of the funded assets, may not make substantial changes undermining the purpose of the investment, and must ensure non-discriminatory public access, including on tariffs and payment methods. On top of this comes an annual energy audit, drawn up by staff authorised by the National Energy Regulatory Authority, throughout the durability period.

A separate rule for airports. Sub-measures 1 and 2 also cover the purchase of electric ground power units for aircraft. For each electric unit purchased, the applicant must scrap one with a combustion engine within 60 days of the new one entering service.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

The order makes no targeted amendments. Article I states that the annex to Order No. 1,318/2025, published in Official Gazette of Romania No. 789 of 25 August 2025, is amended and replaced in its entirety by the annex to the new order. In other words, the 2025 version with its later amendments no longer exists as applicable text; only the framework published now remains. The order contains no comparison table, so differences from the old version can only be established by comparing the two texts published in the Official Gazette of Romania.

What can be said with certainty from the new text is that the scheme has been reset on a tighter calendar and with an explicit European safeguard clause. Regulation (EU) No 651/2014, the block exemption basis on which the aid rests, expires on 31 December 2026. Article 12 of the scheme provides that, after that date, the Ministry of Transport undertakes to align the scheme with the new rules and seek fresh clearance from the Competition Council. If it does not, no contracts may be concluded after 31 December 2026 or after the transition period expires, whichever comes first.

A second calendar condition is that the scheme enters into force on publication, but only after the European Investment Bank approves its financing, under Government Emergency Ordinance No. 60/2022. The scheme applies until 31 December 2028, projects must be completed by 30 June 2030 at the latest, and aid may be paid until 31 December 2030. The average annual budget may not exceed 131 million euro.

Finally, one eligibility restriction worth noting: newly established undertakings are expressly excluded from funding. The scheme defines these as firms set up in the year before the application and without approved financial statements for the last closed financial year, firms set up in the year of application itself, or firms that have carried out no economic activity, but for no more than three consecutive tax years before submission.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • 262 million euro in non-repayable funding for infrastructure that today is missing precisely where people spend time: in cities, logistics parks, company sites and airports.
  • Intensity of up to 100% makes projects possible even for firms without their own capital for co-financing, provided they are price-competitive.
  • The euro-per-kilowatt bidding mechanism naturally drives the public cost down, instead of leaving the price to an assessor’s judgement.
  • The obligation of non-discriminatory public access, around the clock, with card payment and market tariffs, protects ordinary drivers from stations that would become de facto private or reachable only through proprietary apps.
  • Integrating renewable generation and storage into the same project, under sub-measures 2 and 3, reduces the stations’ dependence on the grid and the carbon footprint of charging.

What remains a problem

  • Excluding newly established firms shuts out exactly the kind of specialist operator that typically emerges in a new charging market.
  • A maximum of 50 beneficiaries for 262 million euro concentrates the money in a small group, and the 40% ceiling per firm allows even greater concentration.
  • The scheme hangs on two external conditions: approval of the financing by the European Investment Bank and alignment with the new European block exemption rules after 31 December 2026. If the second is late, contracting stalls.
  • The ban on siting within 3 kilometres of motorway exits makes sense to avoid duplicating the e-MOBILITY RO scheme, but may rule out good commercial locations right next to road junctions.
  • The annual energy audit throughout the durability period is a recurring cost that does not appear in the project budget and that the beneficiary carries alone for five years.
  • The tie-breaking rule, which gives priority to the project requesting the larger amount, runs against the scheme’s general logic of rewarding smaller requests.

Practical advice

  1. If you are preparing a project: start from the opportunity analysis, not the cost estimate. The scheme expressly requires it, with at least two independent technical and economic scenarios or a justification for why no alternatives exist, plus a cost-effectiveness analysis and the cost of cutting a tonne of CO2.
  2. Work out the euro per kilowatt installed first: it is the only criterion that counts for ranking. A project that is expensive per kilowatt loses even if it is technically flawless.
  3. Do not start work before applying. The incentive effect requires the application to be submitted before works begin. Buying land, obtaining approvals, technical studies and the opportunity analysis do not count as starting, but the first firm equipment order does.
  4. One project per location, not several. You may submit any number of projects in a round, but only one per location, and for each you need a document proving a right of use: ownership, superficies, loan for use or administration.
  5. Check your solvency indicator. The ratio of total debt to equity must be positive and below 7.5 in the last financial year. If it is not, you will need a bank creditworthiness letter or a comfort letter.
  6. If you are eyeing a location near a motorway: measure the road distance to the nearest exit. Under 3 kilometres, the site is not eligible under this scheme, though it may be under e-MOBILITY RO.
  7. Budget for the annual energy audit across all five years of durability, alongside the station’s operating cost. It is a contractual obligation, not a recommendation.

Frequently asked questions

Who may apply for funding under the e-MOVE RO scheme?
Micro-enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises and large undertakings, including public undertakings and companies, lawfully constituted and registered with the Romanian Trade Register by the date of the first payment. Newly established undertakings and undertakings in difficulty are excluded.
How much can a project receive?
The maximum intensity is 100% of eligible costs, but the amount of aid may not exceed 25 million euro per undertaking across all bidding rounds of the scheme, nor 40% of the scheme’s total budget. Ineligible costs are borne entirely by the beneficiary.
How are winning projects selected?
Through competitive bidding procedures organised separately for each sub-measure. Projects are ranked by score, and the score is calculated solely on the aid requested per unit of installed capacity, in euro per kilowatt. Whoever asks for the least receives the maximum score. Funding is awarded in descending order until the round’s budget is exhausted.
Can I install the station on a motorway?
Not under this scheme. Infrastructure may not sit on motorways, express roads or main national roads managed by the National Company for Road Infrastructure Administration, nor within 3 kilometres by road of the nearest motorway or express road exit. Siting within airport perimeters is the exception.
What technical requirements must a publicly accessible station meet?
Each location must have at least two 150 kW direct current points and at least one 350 kW high-power direct current point, where the opportunity analysis justifies it. Stations must support smart charging, accept payment instruments widely used in the Union, and be accessible on a non-discriminatory basis 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Until when can applications be filed and aid paid?
The scheme applies until 31 December 2028, through successive rounds until the budget is exhausted. Projects must be completed by 30 June 2030 at the latest, and aid may be paid until 31 December 2030. Launching rounds after 31 December 2026 depends on the scheme being aligned with the new European block exemption rules.
What happens if I sell the station after receiving the funding?
You cannot, for 5 years from project completion. During the durability period the beneficiary may not cease the activity carried out with the funded asset, may not dispose of the assets, and may not make substantial changes that would undermine the investment’s original objectives.
How does e-MOVE RO differ from e-MOBILITY RO?
e-MOBILITY RO funds stations on the network of motorways and main national roads, while e-MOVE RO expressly targets infrastructure outside that network: company fleets, publicly accessible sites away from national road authority roads, and airports. Both are financed from the Modernisation Fund.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 660 of 10 August 2026 16 pages PDF, 117 KB the act starts on page 4

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.