13.07.2020.
The Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund has been implementing the co-financing scheme for energy efficient vehicles since 2014 and so far, it has provided HRK 110 million for the purchase of 3500 new vehicles. The co-financing programme has been modified in 2020, with the maximum amount of incentive of 70,000 kunas, while co-financing for electric bicycles was available only to legal persons, whose incentive scheme also includes hydrogen vehicles. The greatest change was the method application itself. Due to the process of digitalisation prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, the citizens and legal persons could apply solely online through the e-Application system for public calls of the Fund. The public calls were invited earlier so that all interested parties could create their user accounts and collect the documentation before the official application process itself.the interest in incentives was huge, and some will be displeased because they were late to apply, but it only shows that the demand for electric vehicles is greater than this year’s Fund’s budget allocated to this purpose. To have the online application process run smoothly, the e-Application system is hosted on a special server and it is programmed enable the applications to be sent starting at 9:00, and automatically disables the option to apply after the value of the applications received exceeds the earmarked budget. That the system is functioning well is corroborated by the fact that a large number of applicants from all over Croatia applied successfully. There were 546 applicants to the public call for the citizens, and 307 to the one opened to legal persons.
For the purchase of eco-vehicles the companies and the citizens could get up to 40% of grant funding, meaning from 5000 to 70000 kunas, depending on the category of the vehicle. The citizens could get co-financing for only one vehicle, which they must keep in ownership for at least 2 years, while companies could purchase several vehc9iels, but the total co-financing could not exceed HRK 400,000.