Almost every day we receive information about how sales of new electric cars are constantly growing in numerous European countries. Many countries also have various incentives to encourage their citizens and companies to get rid of old gasoline or diesel models, or to use electric models as much as possible. The incentive system also exists in our country, but I can freely say that it is extremely bad and they constantly surprise us with new solutions that bring many more bad examples than good ones.
In Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, more than 50% of electric cars
Every year there is uncertainty whether there will be incentives or not? If there will be, when will they be? Who will they be intended for? How and in what way will the application system take place? Who will do it – the applicants themselves or someone for them (vehicle sellers)? How long does it take to approve or reject an application? So, every now and then, analyzes of the success of the current incentive systems are made, and then even worse things are prepared. All of this looks as if it does not actually want to encourage the purchase of vehicles with zero emissions, but rather to dissuade many from doing so. Croatia business. I believe that in Europe there are very good examples of how it can work, it’s just necessary to get out of the Croatian framework a little.
Here are just a few prominent examples of the share of new electric cars in the total new vehicle market last year. We can start from neighboring Hungary, where EV models had a share of 14% last year. The percentage was higher in Slovenia, that is, the percentage was lower in Italy. Romania and Bulgaria are at 6%. Slovakia had 9% and the Czech Republic 10%. Spain was at 20%, and France at 26%. Germany had a 30% share of EV models, Switzerland 34%, and Belgium a high 44%. Finland is even better with 57%, ahead of which is the Netherlands with 58%. Sweden is at 61%, Denmark at 71%, and Norway at an extremely high 97%. Croatia was only at 5%.
Calulation with incentives
There are certainly those who will now claim that this is because the purchasing power of our citizens is extremely low, but incentives are primarily to blame. Many calculate with the purchase of an EV model precisely because of the incentives because they constantly hope that they will catch up to 9,000 euros, and thus achieve significant savings when purchasing the vehicle itself.
In Zagreb, the final conference of the project Vozimo EKOnomicno, organized by the Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency, is taking place. There, the director of the Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency, Luka Balen, pointed out that for this year, they secured an additional 20 million euros, with which they continue to co-finance the purchase of energy-efficient vehicles for citizens. When, how and under what conditions, we don’t know yet.
Project Vozimo EKOnomicno
How to make electric vehicles the first choice of citizens, whether the incentives so far have met expectations and what shapes attitudes towards e-mobility today were the main topics of the conference which brought together representatives of the Government, the European Commission, the economy and experts in the fields of transport, environmental protection and consumer psychology.
As a reminder, a call worth 45 million euros is still open for the procurement of zero-emission vehicles for taxi operators and users of light delivery vehicles. Unfortunately, I think it is very poorly prepared, apparently without a real analysis of how taxi transport works. There is a lot of room for improvement. Allegedly, a new financial instrument worth an additional 45 million euros through HBOR is also being prepared. The State Secretary of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition, Tanja Radić Lakoš, also announced investments of almost EUR 974 million in sustainable mobility through the future Social Plan for Climate Policy. We can’t wait to see what they have prepared for us.
Strategic priorities of the Government
The chief advisor of the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Ivica Rovis, pointed out that the decarbonization of transport and e-mobility are among the strategic priorities of the Government, and that the state will continue to invest in transport infrastructure and create conditions for the wider use of alternative-powered vehicles. Let’s hope that soon we will see for ourselves what this means in reality.
Expert panels were also held where the effects of current incentives, the development of the electric vehicle market, charging infrastructure and user experiences were discussed. The decision to buy an electric vehicle does not depend only on the price, pointed out behavioral psychologist Dr. Andrijana Mušura Gabor. She spoke about the psychological factors that influence the acceptance of e-mobility, and she singled out the fact that as many as 76% of citizens live in family homes, which makes charging electric vehicles much easier.
It is good that the participants of the conference concluded that the further development of e-mobility will depend on the continuation of the incentive program, the further expansion of the network of charging stations and the cooperation of the state, the economy and citizens in order to make sustainable mobility available to as many users as possible. It is only important that we see all this through concrete projects, and not listen to platitudes that have been repeated for years.