State to continue support of electro mobility

The State will extend its support for the purchase of electric vehicles in 2018, too, the Economy Minister, Peter Žiga (Smer-SD), told TASR. The program, which was created to support the purchase of electric vehicles was supposed to end in 2017, yet it was not completely exhausted, so the ministry decided to prolong it. By the end of 2017, so far 485 applicants have received state subsidies - 289 applicants for electric cars, 196 applicants for hybrid cars, totaling around 2 million euros. By 2030, one in three vehicles in the EU should run on a clean engine, stated European Commission Vice-president for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič in Bratislava on Thursday, at the opening of the first rapid charging station. Bratislava became the first city in Central and Eastern Europe to start operating a new type of fast-charging station for electric cars. Commonly used charging stations obtain electric energy exclusively from the grid. The new system uses energy as needed from a battery, the power grid, or both.