Electric vehicles have been talked about for the last few years as the vehicles of the future. There are several reasons: they significantly reduce the emission of harmful gases compared to fossil fuel vehicles, their maintenance costs are lower, as well as the price of fuel, since electricity is often cheaper than gasoline or diesel.
However, their long-announced bright future this year is marred by statistics, which, when it comes to our country, show that in the first six months of this year, 106 electric vehicles were imported into Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), which, compared to the same period last year, about 15 percent less when 125 such vehicles were imported. At the same time, there was a large increase in the import of hybrid vehicles by over 70 percent.
Penetration of Chinese brands
The delay in the adoption of subsidies may be one of the reasons for the drop in the import of electric vehicles in BiH in the first and second quarter of this year, believes Armin Hodzic, director of the energy sector at the Chamber of Commerce of the Federation of BiH (FBiH), while the sale of hybrid vehicles, he notes, traditionally goes well in BiH, regardless of this government stimulus measure.
In the context of Europe, the offer of electric cars from the Chinese market, which European manufacturers cannot keep up with either in terms of price or quantity, as well as the reduction of subsidies for the purchase of electric cars in the European Union (EU), are also, he points out, the reasons why customers are recently oriented towards hybrids and not electric vehicles.
“Subsidies in BiH amount to; ten thousand for the purchase of electric vehicles, and five thousand BAM for the purchase of hybrid vehicles, and last year they were adopted in April. This year they are late, they are in the final phase, and we are waiting for their adoption in the FBiH parliaments,” Hodzic explained.
The price of lithium is falling
The price of electric cars since their appearance on the market has been higher compared to the price of other, commercial vehicles, where states have tried to encourage buyers to opt for this type of car with subsidies. BiH was no exception either, which regulated this area in such a way that it reduced the customs duty on the import of electric vehicles from 5 to 0 percent, and hybrids from 15 to five percent, Forbes writes.
E.Dz.
