All 15 million incentives for electric cars reserved

The Public Call of the Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency received 2,241 applications for co-financing energy-efficient vehicles, and the public call worth 15 million euros has been temporarily closed, the Fund reported on Monday.

– Interest in electric vehicles in Croatia is constantly growing – the Fund assesses, noting that citizens reserved as much as 15 million euros in incentives at more than 330 sales points by 1 PM, after which the Fund’s Public Call was temporarily closed. According to information from the field, they say, the financial resources were sufficient for all interested buyers of energy-efficient vehicles.

The Director of the Fund Luka Balen emphasizes that such a historically generous co-financing program positively impacts the faster decarbonization of the transport system. We can soon expect more than 2,200 new energy-efficient vehicles on our roads, he adds.

This is, he says, particularly important for achieving energy efficiency goals in transport, but also for better air quality in cities. Given that today we also celebrate Earth Day, we are pleased that a certain number of citizens have decided to use more environmentally friendly vehicles, Balen emphasizes.

He also adds that this year is “just the beginning,” as they plan to continue co-financing for legal entities and the public sector, given that incentives are still the most significant motivator for changing the existing vehicle fleet.

This year’s call, unlike previous ones, was intended exclusively for individuals, i.e., citizens, who applied for co-financing through sales points, depending on the brand of the vehicle they wanted to purchase.

For co-financing of 40 percent, only new energy-efficient vehicles were eligible in this program, whose total price, including any discounts and VAT, did not exceed 50,000 euros.

The funds were most sought after for personal electric cars, i.e., vehicles in category M1, for which the amount of the incentive was up to 9,000 euros. Co-financing was requested for 1,629 personal cars, of which 1,517 were electric and 112 were plug-in hybrids.

Among the most sought-after vehicles are those of the brands Tesla, Renault, Hyundai, Opel, Dacia, MG Motor, and Citroën, which, thanks to the incentives, have become price-competitive with similar classes of vehicles with internal combustion engines.

For motorcycles and scooters, i.e., L category vehicles, citizens could receive up to 2,500 euros in non-repayable funds, for which 612 citizens showed interest.

The greatest interest in incentives was in Zagreb and the Zagreb County, Split-Dalmatia, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, and Istria counties, the Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency reports.