Electric vehicle regulation and law in Slovenia

Green mobility in Slovenia has been a hot topic in recent years. Even though the share of EVs is relatively low, it has been growing rapidly, supported by infrastructure development. With relatively short distances within the country and a fuelling infrastructure in place, Slovenia is an ideal environment for the development of EVs.

There are 1,064,000 registered passenger cars in Slovenia. EVs have a market share of 0.74%, with BEVs (battery electric vehicles) at 0.47% and PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) at 0.27%. EV market share has increased rapidly in recent years – BEVs rose from 0.21% in 2015 to 0.47% in 2017, and PHEVs grew from 0.06% in 2015 to 0.27% in 2017. 1
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In 2016, there were 178 new registrations of BEVs; this number almost doubled in 2017, reaching 336. Growth in PHEVs ownership shows a similar trend, up from 94 new registrations in 2016 to 192 in 2017. 2
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The Energy Act, adopted in 2014, is the main act in the field of energy. It includes provisions on the construction of EV public charging stations on motorways, and on the reporting on public charging stations and their energy consumption. Several other acts regulate EVs, including the Corporate Income Tax Act, the Motor Vehicle Charges Act and the Motor Vehicles Tax Act.

Slovenia transposed Directive 2014/94/EU on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure into national law by adopting the “Decree establishing the infrastructure for alternative transport fuels”, which came into force on 12 August 2017. Under this directive, the “Strategy for the development of the market as regards alternative fuels in the transport sector and the deployment of the relevant infrastructure” was adopted in October 2017.

Fuelling infrastructure – in 2017, there were 228 publicly available charging points for EVs in Slovenia (31 of them are high-power charging stations on the TEN-T network), one charging point for hydrogen, 115 points for liquefied petroleum gas and four for compressed natural gas.

Financial incentives – incentives for the purchase of EVs are granted by the Eco Fund, Slovenian Environmental Public Fund. Subsidies may be granted to individuals and legal persons. In 2017, the subsidy for an EV was EUR 7,500, and EUR 4,500 for a PHEV.

BEVs are exempted from payment of an annual fee under the Motor Vehicle Charges Act. A lower tax rate (0.5%) is applicable for EVs under the Motor Vehicles Tax Act.

Taxpayers under the Corporate Income Tax Act may claim a reduction of the tax base of 40% of the amount invested in passenger cars and buses (BEVs and PHEV), but not exceeding the amount of the tax base.

Soft measures – “The Strategy for the development of the market as regards alternative fuels in the transport sector and the deployment of the relevant infrastructure” provides several soft measures for the promotion of EVs, such as use of EVs in public transport and guidelines for municipalities. The Strategy recommends that local municipalities draft long-term plans that include: building charging points, particularly in residential areas; providing parking spaces at charging points; promoting urban transport and taxi transport by alternative fuels; providing yellow lanes for EVs and free parking. EV car sharing systems in several Slovenian cities have proven to be a successful model with major growth potential.

Ministry for infrastructure – drafting of legislation, action plans, strategies.

Energy Agency – consultation process on electromobility with relevant stakeholders.

Electricity market participants (electricity generators, suppliers and distributors) – development of network.

Municipalities – drafting and implementation of measures for promotion of EVs at the local level.

Universities and research institutes – actively participating in R&D of EVs.

Slovenia’s main challenges to EV ownership and development, and efforts to combat them, include:

• High prices of EVs – subsidies and soft loans.
• Unevenly dispersed fuelling infrastructure and a lack of fuelling infrastructure in non-urban areas – further development of infrastructure.
• Development of transmission and distribution network, smart grids – further investment.