ZAGREB, November 6, 2020 - In ten years time vehicles will be autonomous, networked, electric and shared, which is an opportunity for Croatia to create a new business model, owner of the Rimac Automobili, Mate Rimac said at a conference on electromobility and autonomous cars technology.

During the videoconference, organised on Friday by the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences' (HAZU) Scientific Council for Technological Development, Rimac underscores said that the future of automobility is changing as too many people are losing their lives on the road.

"Electric autonomous vehicles are able to reduce the number of fatalities in road accidents by more than 90 percent," said Rimac.

He added that one robo-taxi could replace 20 traditional vehicles.

He added that the C2 Rimac automobile was ready for autonomous driving adding that Croatia's potential is not exploited sufficiently and that Croatia is one of the rare European countries that does not have a strong automobile industry.

"Slovakia has become the centre of the automobile industry, Estonia for startups and digitisation so why shouldn't Croatia be the centre for electric and autonomous vehicles?," Rimac asked adding that two huge investment waves  in the automobile industry have already passed us by," he said.

The conference also heard that according to a report by the European association of vehicle manufacturers, eastern Europe is falling behind in developing infrastructure for electric vehicle filling stations. About 200,000 publicly accessible filling stations have been installed per 400 million population which means that there is one station per 2,000 population.

There are currently 500 electric vehicle filling stations in Croatia or 1 per 9,000 inhabitants.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 14th of September, 2020, Split-Dalmatia County Prefect Blazenko Boban, President of the Management Board of Hrvatska elektroprivreda Frane Barbaric and Mayor of Split Andro Krstulovic Opara put the jubilee 200th HEP electric car charger in Split into operation. The new electric car charger in Split is located in the car park at the intersection of Varazdinska Ulica (Varazdin street) and Ulica Domovinskog rata (Homeland war street).

HEP's network of ELEN car chargers covers the area of ​​all 20 counties and the City of Zagreb, as well as all motorways and other important road routes across Croatia, city centres and tourist destinations, including several islands. At HEP's electric car charger stations, more than 400 electric cars can be charged at the same time, ie half of all of the registered electric cars in Croatia.

"Our charging station network enables all Croatian drivers, users of electric cars, to travel unhindered to any destination in Croatia. In the last year alone, we've set up more than a hundred electric car charger stations. And this is an indicator of how much we've accelerated the realisation of investments in HEP. Thanks to such an approach, we estimate that this year, we'll have a record realisation of investments, over 4 billion kuna,'' said Frane Barbaric, President of the Management Board of Hrvatska elektroprivreda d.d.

The ELEN car charger station in Split, with a total power of 93 kW, enables the simultaneous charging of two cars. The electric car charger has all three standardised ports so that it can be used by all available electric vehicles on the market. In addition to this charging station, HEP, in cooperation with the City of Split, has set up charging stations on Ulica Antuna Branka Simica and Put Brodarice. Based on the signed cooperation agreement, another 22 charging stations for electric vehicles will also be set up.

"The City of Split is a green city that wants to be part of a green society, and the installation of electric car charger stations in the city is part of that idea. Also, this isn't possible without cooperation with various stakeholders in the Republic of Croatia, and HEP is one of the most important of them all. These three newly opened chargers, as well as an additional 22 that will be put into operation by the end of the year, are a pledge for even better cooperation between HEP ​​and the City of Split in other areas, primarily on development projects that are part of Smart City direction in which we want to go,'' said Andro Krstulovic Opara, Mayor of the City of Split.

In addition to the 200th electric car charger in Split, the wider Split-Dalmatia County, HEP has so far set up a total of 19 electric car charger stations, including two on the nearby islands of Hvar and three on Brac, with plans to set up another 27, including two on the island of Vis. In total, this investment cycle of installing electric car charger stations in Split-Dalmatia County is worth 12 million kuna.

"With the most hydroelectric power plants in its area, Split-Dalmatia County has always been at the forefront in the use of renewable energy sources in Croatia. A further step forward was made on Vis, where, thanks to the solar power plant, the island became self-sustaining in regard to energy. I'm glad that HEP is going in that direction on the island of Hvar as well. In addition, thanks to HEP, we have the opportunity to be among the leaders in terms of infrastructure for electric vehicles,'' said Blazenko Boban, Prefect of Split-Dalmatia County.

HEP financed the installation of the 200th ELEN car charger in Split, as well as the previous ones, throughout Croatia with its own funds and funds from EU funds through the EAST-E, NEXT-E and bigEVdata projects. The use of HEP's ELEN stations is still free, and the commercialisation of services will follow after all the possibilities of customer service have been tested and billing models have been developed. HEP strongly promotes the concept and concrete advantages of e-mobility, as it is an indispensable part of Croatia's energy transition towards a low-carbon society and one of the key parts of the European Green Plan.

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After HEP set up an ultra-fast charging station, Vukova Gorica has become one of the most important hubs for e-mobility in the whole of the Republic of Croatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 13th of February, 2020, HEP, in collaboration with INA, is the very first in Croatia to launch the fastest and most technologically advanced ultra-fast electric car charging station on Croatian motorways, located at Vukova Gorica.

The impressive 175 kW charging station allows a person to charge an electric car in a mere fifteen minutes. There are several similar charging stations located in various places across Croatia, but they aren't public in their nature, they instead serve the internal needs of corporate fleets, mainly rent-a-car and taxi companies.

At the same location, at the Vukova Gorica rest stop (odmoriste) along the A6 Zagreb-Rijeka highway, four HEP high-speed AC/DC charging stations with individual power of 50 kW have been operational since last year.

HEP's first ultra-fast charging station has been set up as part of an international NEXT-E project which is co-funded by European Union funds. It has two standardised DC ports (ChaDeMo and CCS) and can charge an electric vehicle at 175 kW. The charging speed of such a charger depends on the capabilities and characteristics of each vehicle's battery. Vehicles that can take full advantage of ultra-fast charging can on average charge their batteries in about fifteen minutes to a level that allows for 200 kilometres of onward travel.

"The ultra-fast charging station for electric car drivers, our fellow residents and our visitors, minimises the time spent at the rest stop and allows them to reach their destinations as quickly as possible. That's why we plan to install several more charging stations of this level of power or of an even greater level of power along the motorways. We're the first in Croatia to recognise the importance of traffic electrification, and to date, we've installed more than 120 public ELEN stations in Croatian cities, interurban roads and motorways,'' said Frane Barbaric, CEO of HEP.

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