Hrvoje Prpić answers when full electrification of vehicles in Croatia is expected

More and more electric vehicles are passing through Croatian roads, and there is no shortage of their further electric relatives – scooters and bicycles – on the sidewalks. However, perhaps the best indicator that there are many e-driving enthusiasts in the homeland is the fact that the tender for subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles ended in a second.

In order to gather and jointly promote the economic and ecological advantages of e-driving and to fight for better conditions for state co-financing of the purchase of ‘eco tin pets’, at the beginning of the year, the founder of HGspot and co-founder of the Croatian network of business angels Hrvoje Prpić, entrepreneur Saša Cvetojević, and director of Klasik TV Maja Jelisić Cooper established the Croatian Association of Electric Vehicle Drivers Strujni krug. In just a few months of existence, the association recently became a member of the European Association for Electromobility (AVERE), and on that occasion, we spoke with the president of the association Hrvoje Prpić. Here’s what we learned!

How do you assess the situation in Croatia in the field of electromobility?

Croatia, like the rest of Eastern EU, lags behind the Western part of the EU. However, this is no surprise; the situation has always been such that new technologies were introduced in Western Europe and then gradually flowed eastward. Fortunately, Croatia is part of the EU because there is a significant difference between EU countries and European countries that are not in the Union. Thanks to EU funds, today in Croatia we have one charger for every two electric vehicles. Thus, the charging network is extremely developed. We were fortunate as a tourist country that we were recognized by Tesla Motors and they set up as many as eight locations for their superchargers, covering the entire Croatia, from the border with Slovenia to the border with Serbia and from Zagreb to Dubrovnik and Zagreb towards Istria.

When can full electrification of vehicles in Croatia be expected?

Given the EU’s efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, our estimates are that full electrification of vehicles in Western Europe will occur by 2030, and Croatia, along with the rest of Eastern European countries, will lag behind this goal by about 3 to 5 years. Our goal will be to save a year or two in this process and to make it easier for vehicle buyers to decide on electric.

Why is this process taking so long?

Croatia has always aspired to European achievements, and with its entry into the EU, we received, in addition to a huge market, new goals – to raise the quality of life and extend it. The EU’s goal is to reduce CO2 emissions and pollution, and Croatia, as a tourist country, should embrace these goals with open arms. Unfortunately, sometimes people do not want change and are satisfied with the current state. If these people are in positions from which decisions are made, then this can be a problem, and such people can significantly slow down development.

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Among the association’s goals is working with the Government. Now is a particularly opportune time to present the key points of what you expect from the Government in the new mandate. What KPIs would you set for it?

We would not set KPIs for the Government because this is not just the Government’s job; it is the job of all of us. It is up to the Government, in agreement with representatives of electromobility, to facilitate the process of obtaining incentives and the entry of new entities into the electromobility market. We will try, together with the Government, to find the simplest way to encourage electric vehicles to maximize the simplification of the purchase of electric vehicles for potential buyers. For this purpose, we expect to sit down with the relevant minister as soon as the Government is formed and present our proposals to them.

What does your membership in AVERE actually mean for Croatia?

Membership in AVERE will allow us to lobby for necessary changes through EU institutions that we see we will not be able to achieve alone, through cooperation with the Government. So, a kind of pressure if we see that there is a need for it. However, we hope that membership in AVERE will serve solely to show that Croatia, along with the rest of Europe, is eager for progress and will do everything to clean the air in the cities in our beautiful country.

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