The import of electric cars in Bosnia and Herzegovina has increased over the past year, and some progress has been made when it comes to the construction of infrastructure for charging them.
During the year 2023, according to the data provided to Feni by the Administration for Indirect Taxation of BiH, 240 electric cars were imported, while 69 arrived in BiH a year earlier. The value of imported electric vehicles, including duties, was about 18.6 million BAM last year.
When it comes to hybrid vehicles, the owners allocated about 97.6 million BAM for them, and 1,512 of them were imported last year, of which 1,150 were new and 362 used vehicles. A year earlier, in 2022, 610 hybrid vehicles were imported into BiH.
Infrastructure for charging electric vehicles is a necessary prerequisite for the development of electromobility. In developed countries, electromobility is encouraged both through activities to establish a regulatory framework, which includes appropriate incentives for the purchase and use of electric vehicles, and through the construction of infrastructure for charging them.
Haris Muratović, brand manager of MOON (Porsche BH), assessed for Fena news agency that the infrastructure for charging electric vehicles in BiH has been significantly improved compared to the situation a year or two ago.
“We already have 320 chargers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of which about 15 are fast chargers, and two of those 15 are super fast, 150 kW. In order to further improve this infrastructure, we need more of these super-fast chargers at about a dozen locations in BiH that are on expressways, highways, near the borders and that will connect the entire country. As a Porsche BH company, we are working on exactly that,” said Muratović.
This year they plan to install two or three more super fast chargers, and in 2025 at least five more super fast chargers and in this way, as he said, when it comes to their activities, they will complete the first phase regarding the number of required fast chargers.
“As a result, people’s consciousness will also become a little more favorable to electric cars because it is definitely one of the big challenges. It’s not so much the price of the car anymore, but the infrastructure itself,”!added Muratović.
For the development of electromobility in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the launch of domestic production of smart charging stations for electric vehicles based on modern solutions is also of great importance, which some companies are already working on.
“I think it makes sense because it’s not that complicated when we’re talking about a so-called slow filler, but for fast fillers it’s a bit more of an undertaking. For these so-called slow AC charging stations, of which there are 90 percent in the world, when we look at the ratio of fast and slow, it definitely makes sense,” said Muratović.
A key element, as he added, is the software that provides the possibility of billing charges, which, as far as he knows, no one has yet developed in our country. Muratović believes that there is also a possibility for a local software company to develop its own charging application.
Promoting electricity in traffic is important because this sector is one of the key sources of air pollution, especially in urban centers. An important reason for promoting electromobility is related to the fact that oil contributes about 90 percent to meeting the sector’s energy needs, and in this way, the dependence on this imported resource is being reduced, Fena news agency reports.
