Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund to issue public call for co-financing EV charging stations

Croatia’s Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (FZOEU) will launch the public call on Wednesday, May 8 for co-financing the deployment of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, a program with a budget of HRK 5.8 million (about EUR 782,000).

Companies, entrepreneurs, municipalities, and non-for-profit organizations will be able to receive up to 40% of eligible costs, or up to HRK 200,000 (about EUR 26.980) each, for their projects to install EV chargers, the FZOEU said on its website.

Eligible charging stations include those with a minimum total power of 50 kW DC, or 22 kW AC, while the public invitation does not strictly define the technical concept, and is open for various solutions in terms of voltage systems, power, charging speed, and locations of the charge points and traffic routes along which they will be deployed.

“The funding will be granted in the order of application receipt until the end of the year, or until the planned funds are used up, so we call on all interested applicants to prepare project proposals as soon as possible, and to make sure the documentation they submit is complete,” FZOEU Director Dubravko Ponoš said.

Financing will not be approved for charging stations built before May 8, 2019, while beneficiaries that receive co-financing will have 12 months to complete the planned projects.

Croatia needs to expand EV charging network from existing 200 stations

In early April, FZOEU launched a public call for co-financing the purchase of green vehicles and has received more than 2,400 applications.

Ponoš said that the co-financing of charging stations for e-vehicles is a logical step following up on last year’s call under which FZOEU approved HRK 25 million (about EUR 3.37 million) for the purchase of around 900 EVs that are now driving on the Croatian roads.

“As a tourism-oriented country that is attractive to European holidaymakers, who will probably visit Croatia driving their EVs, it is important to provide a significantly greater number of charge points than the current 200,” Ponoš said.

Croatia will get 5 fast chargers for EVs along the country’s key transport corridors, the A1 and A6 motorways​, by the end of May.