ZAGREB, 30 June 2022 - The first electric vehicle charger in a lamppost has been installed in the Zagreb suburb of Buzin, and trial chargers will be installed in 200 lampposts in several cities next year as part of a pilot project, while more than 100,000 will be installed across Croatia in the next decade.

This is part of a project aimed at expanding the electric vehicle infrastructure launched by the Strujni krug e-mobility association.

Taking part in the pilot project are Zagreb, Velika Gorica and Osijek.

The Smart Energy company, which is part of the M SAN group, designed the first 3.5 kW charging station. Since it is still being tested, its use is possible, free of charge, via the PlugSurfing app. Although this is the first prototype that can be used this way, three or four other operators are expected to install their trial chargers in lampposts in the weeks ahead.

There is a considerable number of charging stations in Croatia and the number of electric vehicles is increasing by the day, which calls for increasing the number of chargers.

A Strujni krug survey shows that 60% of electric vehicle owners charge them at home, in their garages or backyards, but people who live in flats, notably in city centres, cannot do it without the adequate parking spaces.

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ZAGREB, 5 March, 2021 - A total of 3,439 new passenger cars were sold in Croatia in February 2021, 4.2% fewer than in the same month in 2020, according to the data released by the Promocija Plus market research agency on Friday.

In January 2021, 2,915 new cars were sold, a decrease of 19.7% compared with January 2020. The January drop affected cumulative data for the first two months of 2021, when a total of 6,345 vehicles were sold, or 12.95% fewer than in January-February 2020.

In the first two months of this year the best-selling car make was Volkswagen, with 1,187 units sold and a market share of 18.68%. The only other carmaker with a market share exceeding 10% was Škoda, with 823 cars sold in the January-February period and a market share of 12.95%.

Fiat was third with 482 cars sold, followed by Dacia and Hyundai, with 328 units sold each, and Renault with 327 vehicles sold.

In February alone, the most sought-after car model was the Škoda Octavia, with 227 units sold, ahead of the Fiat Panda (215), the VW T-Roc (150), the Dacia Duster (138) and the Hyundai Tucson (126).

In January and February, 3,271 petrol cars were sold, accounting for 51.5% of total sales, while diesel vehicles accounted for 31.3% with 1,986 units sold. Also sold were 830 hybrid cars (13.1%), 193 vehicles powered by natural gas (3%) and 74 electric cars (1.2%).

E-cars actually work like giant smart phones, people from Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP Group, Croatian national electric company) told journalist Lucija Špiljak from poslovni.hr. They took her from the Croatian headquarters in Zagreb towards Brinje, where HEP presented 16 additional chargers for the e-cars which were financed by EU funds. The driver who took them to Brinje never drove an e-car before, but he was satisfied, and described it as solid and stable, adding that he'd happily replace his classic car with an electric car like that.

July 10th is symbolic because that's the day when we celebrate the National Nikola Tesla Day, the day of science, technology and innovations. On that day Croatia was put on the European map of electromobility and the Trans-European traffic network. The 16 new chargers were installed at rest-stops Ljubeščica, Vukova Gorica, Brinje and Lepenica Sjever, as well as entry/exit points to the highways in Goričan and Sesvetski Kraljevec, and in Vrbovsko, Čavle, Delnice and Fužine near A6 highway.

HEP Group is the leader in the Croatian energy transition and today there are around 70 public ELEN chargers. Their project eMobility aims to keep the Group in line with the energy strategy of the EU, with the basic idea that the electricity from the renewable sources is to be used to power the electric vehicles. The Directive proposes that by the end of 2020 the chargers for e-cars be available every 50 km of highways, in every inhabited place with over 20000 inhabitants as well as all major ports. 

CEO of the HEP Group Frane Barbarić told journalists that the Norwegian tourists, which is a leader in the number of the e-cars, can get to Croatia fast and easily. And now it's also gotten possible to get from the borders with Slovenia and Hungary to the Adriatic without problems. We want to make sure our citizens as well as tourists can drive safely between destinations in Croatia, mr. Barbarić added. When all of those projects are finished, by the end of 2020, HEP's network will comprise more than 100 chargers, which will be worth more than 60 million kuna. He also announced major investment into wind turbines, after the HEP Group has already invested significantly into solar plants.

Domagoj Puzak, the leader of the eMobility team within HEP Group explained that the charger in Brinje is a fast charger, with the power of 50 kW. The charging lasts up to an hour, and the ultra-fast charging in the future will last 15 to 30 minutes. He added that all of the e-cars on the market can connect to one of the three kinds of adapters available at the charger.

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