Round Table "Subsidies for the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles"

The Round table "Subsidies for the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles", organized by the Department of Environmental Economics of the Institute of Economic Sciences (IES) in Belgrade, was held on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. The round table resulted from the internal project "Subsidies for purchasing electric and hybrid vehicles" – SPARK. Institute researchers Ph.D. Petar Mitić, Ph.D. Aida Hanić and Ph.D. Milena Kojić presented the preliminary results of desk analysis and survey research on the opinions and attitudes of the population of the Republic of Serbia about electric and hybrid vehicles.

In addition, the topics discussed at the round table relate to:

• Comparative analysis of subsidies for the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles in Serbia and the countries of the region (Croatia and Slovenia) as well as in the case of the Kingdom of Norway as the best example in this field;
• Attitudes of the population of the Republic of Serbia regarding the purchase and use of electric and hybrid vehicles;
• The procedure for obtaining a subsidy for the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles;
• Charger infrastructure and topics related to the daily use of electric vehicles and their maintenance.

The representative of Toyota Serbia, Mr. Nenad Vuković (Senior sales advisor), took an active part in the round table and spoke about the experience related to the subsidy approval process, as well as the position of hybrid cars on the Serbian market. Also, Mr. Darko Gigić, editor of the SAT Plus magazine, took part in the round table and spoke about Serbia's experiences and challenges with this topic in practice, about the offer of cars by manufacturers, highlighting certain recommendations related to the network of chargers. In the same way, the representatives of Parking Servis Novi Sad, Ms. Svetlana Topo and Mr. Dejan Ilić gave their opinion regarding the availability of chargers in public parking lots in Serbia, as well as the challenges that accompany the process of installing new chargers, with special reference to the situation in Novi Sad.

The conclusion of the round table is that the policy of subsidizing electric and hybrid cars in Serbia does not deviate from the best practices, but that more emphasis must be placed on informing the public about the advantages of using electric and hybrid cars, their performance, and that a significantly greater emphasis must be placed on the expansion charger networks.