Croatia to co-finance installation of EV charging stations in 2018

Croatia’s Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (EPEEF) plans to co-finance the installation of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in 2018.

According to an announcement on the EPEEF’s website, an invitation will be issued soon to local governments and other direct and indirect budget beneficiaries to apply for assistance, and to companies and entrepreneurs to apply for subsidies, to set up EV charging stations. The EPEEF will approve co-financing of up to 40% of individual project costs, but no more than HRK 200,000 (around EUR 27,000) per user.

Croatia currently has around 230 EV charging stations.

The planned invitation is “a natural technological continuation of previously launched invitations to apply for co-financing of energy efficient vehicles,” the announcement reads.

The recent invitation to legal entities to apply for incentives for the purchase of EVs was temporarily closed after only 12 days, as the fund received applications for 200% of the total budget for the incentives. Earlier in 2018, the EPEEF approved EUR 1.62 million in subsidies to individuals to buy 133 electric cars, one plug-in car, 224 electric bikes, and 56 electric motorcycles.

EU to require charging points in new non-residential buildings

Per capita, Slovenia is above the EU average with 362 EV charging stations, the EGE magazine recently wrote. According to the official statistics, the country had 779 personal electric vehicles and 3,035 personal hybrid vehicles at the end of 2017.

The EU is expected to have nearly 3 million EVs by 2020, alongside 4.1 million EV charging stations. By 2025, member states are to adopt rules requiring the installation of a minimum number of charging points for all non-residential buildings with more than 20 parking spaces, as well as at least one charging point for new and thoroughly renovated non-residential buildings with more than 10 parking spaces.

Meanwhile in Serbia…

Meanwhile in Serbia, Večernje Novosti wrote that the country is among the few in Europe not subsidizing the purchase of EVs.

Serbia has a total of 124 registered electric and 204 hybrid cars, the daily wrote, noting that by comparison, in the first quarter of 2018 alone, 195 electric vehicles were bought in Romania, 48 in Bulgaria, 311 in Hungary, and 103 in Slovenia, with many more hybrid vehicles also sold in Q1.

However, a major state project is being developed to expand Serbia’s network of EV charging stations, according to a recent statement by Miloš Petrović, director of the Center for Electric and Hybrid Vehicles (CEH-V), set up in cooperation with the University of Belgrade Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

Serbia needs an estimated 150 EV charging stations, Petrović said. The country currently has only about 30 EV charging stations, five of which are fast charging stations along the highway routes, which can service up to three vehicles at a time, according to the center’s data.