Keywords

1 Introduction

Transport was the second largest polluter with a quarter share of total emissions in 2019 [1, 2]. For this reason, it is necessary to look for ways to reduce emissions in this sector [3], for example, by adjusting the modal split so that more ecological modes of transport should be used [4, 5]. In field of electromobility, there is possible to introduce technical and regulatory restrictions or change taxes, fees, and subsidies.

Several studies compare the energy and environmental impacts of vehicles with different fuels. For example, extensive comparative studies [6, 7] found that few research papers report a full Life Cycle Assessment. Such an assessment considers not only the fuel but also the vehicle itself. In economics, researchers evaluate the vehicle costs with Total Costs of Ownership (TCO). For example, studies [8,9,10] compare the TCO of a conventional Internal Combustion Engine Vehicle (ICEV) and a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) in different parts of the world.

This article does not focus on the contentious environmental or economic questions of operation BEV compared to ICEV. The authors in [11] discuss whether BEVs should be subsidised or, on the contrary, taxed. For example, authors in [12] found that in China BEVs are not economically competitive compared with ICEVs. The most important motivators for buying a BEV or HEV are financial savings [13, 14] and the safety of new vehicles [15, 16].

2 An Overview of Legislation Related to the Electromobility

This section describes the most important documents related to electromobility at the level of the European Union, as well as national laws in Slovakia. These help the development of electromobility and can be an example for foreign countries. In some cases, the measures concern BEV and HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicle), BEV and PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), or only BEV.

This article describes only the basic and most important documents about reducing emissions in transport. More information about electromobility, automation, connectivity and safety of mobility can be obtained from the research roadmaps published by The European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) [17].

2.1 White Paper on Transport

The European Union has developed a White Paper [18], which contains a Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system. The main goal is to achieve a 60% reduction in emissions in the context of growing traffic and mobility support by 2050. The goal is to eliminate oil dependence without sacrificing transport system efficiency.

Urban transport is responsible for approximately one-quarter of CO2 emissions from transport. In addition, 69% of traffic accidents occur in cities. The gradual ICEV elimination from the urban environment contributes the most to a significant reduction in dependence on oil, greenhouse gas emissions, and local air and noise pollution.

The EU wants to support smaller, lighter, and more specialised road passenger vehicles. Extensive fleets of city buses, taxis, and vans are particularly suitable for alternative powertrain systems and fuels. It could significantly reduce the intensity of carbon oxides in urban transport and prepare the conditions for testing new technologies and the opportunity for their timely introduction to the market. Charging for the use of communications and removing irregularities in taxation can also enhance public transport and the gradual introduction of alternative fuels.

2.2 The European Green Deal

The agreement [19] goal is for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The European Commission has adopted a set of proposals to adapt climate, energy, transport, and taxation policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990. It will create new opportunities for innovation, and investment, reduce emissions, create new jobs, solve energy poverty, reduce energy dependence, and improve the health of EU citizens.

The European Commission supports the growth of the market for vehicles with zero and low emissions. It is also trying to ensure that citizens have the infrastructure for charging these vehicles over short and long distances. From 2026, road transport will be subject to emissions trading, which will set a price for pollution and encourage the use of cleaner fuels.

2.3 The Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement [20] is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The purpose of the Paris Agreement is to keep global warming at an acceptable level. According to the agreement, one of the tools for achieving this goal is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The framework of the Paris Agreement defines the tools for achieving the goals as follows:

  • keep the global temperature increase below 2 ℃ compared to pre-industrial levels and make efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 ℃ compared to pre-industrial levels, which would significantly reduce the risks and consequences of climate change,

  • increase the ability to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change and support climate change resistance and low-emission development,

  • harmonise financial flows with the path to low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.

2.4 National Acts and Related Measures

The emissions are also related to Act No. 137/2010 Coll. on Air Protection [21]. Based on it, it is possible to establish a low-emission zone. The municipality determines in this way:

  • the territory of the municipality or specific the streets or their parts falling into the low-emission zone (marked with traffic signs, an example in Fig. 1),

  • the lowest emission class of vehicles and powertrain,

  • details of the temporary entry and permanent entry permit and the vehicle operator’s application form.

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Traffic signs indicating the beginning and end of the low-emission zone [22].

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Slovakia also adopted the new Act No. 214/2021 Coll. on the Support of Ecological Road Transport Vehicles [23]. This law regulates the minimum percentage share of ecological vehicles when entering an above-limit order in public procurement and ensuring the provision of services in the public interest in passenger transport.

There was necessary to improve Decree No. 9/2009 Coll. [24], which implements the law on Toad Traffic. The decree introduced special registration numbers for BEVs and PHEVs (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
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Special vehicle registration plate for BEV and PHEV [25].

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BEVs and HEVs are also benefits in Motor Vehicle Tax Act No. 361/2014 Coll. [26]. The law regulates the taxation of motor vehicles and trailers with motor vehicle tax. The tax subject is a vehicle registered in Slovakia and used for business during the tax period.

All road vehicles (cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles) whose only energy source is electricity (BEV) are charged at a zero rate, regardless of engine power. In addition, the annual tax rate is reduced by 50% for HEVs, motor vehicles powered by CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) or LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), and motor vehicles powered by hydrogen.

An adequate charging network is required to operate BEVs and PHEVs. Act on Energy Efficiency of Buildings No. 555/2005 Coll. [27] deals with this requirement. New and significantly renovated existing non-residential buildings with more than 10 parking spaces must have at least one charging point (CP) for electric vehicles (with traffic signs Fig. 3). At least one of the five parking spaces must have wiring infrastructure (electric cables) into ensuring the later installation of CP for electric vehicles. If the building has more than 10 parking spaces, it must have the wiring infrastructure for each parking space.

Fig. 3.
figure 3

Traffic sign indicating a CP [22].

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Amendment to the Income Tax Act No. 595/2003 Coll. [28] introduced a new depreciation group “0” with a depreciation period of 2 years in Slovakia from 2019. Depreciation group 0 includes BEVs and PHEVs in any combination with another type of fuel or energy source. It is possible to use only the straight-line depreciation method.

In November 2016, the Slovak government also adopted the National Policy Framework for the Development of the Alternative Fuels Market [29]. This document sets out various measures to support alternative fuels in the transport sector and to improve the relevant infrastructure. Although these documents are not legally binding, they formed the basis of legally binding measures in the coming years. Ultimately, the government aims to have at least 35,000 EVs and plug-in hybrids by 2030.

The electromobility promotion in Slovakia also includes an exemption from the registration fee for the first BEV registration (33 EUR). The operation of a publicly accessible CP is also exempt from the licensing obligation.

3 State of Electromobility in Slovakia

The following graphs show the number of BEVs registered in Slovakia. However, only the number of vehicles up to 3.5 tons of total weight will be analysed, which means the following two categories [30]:

  • M1 – vehicles designed and constructed for the transport of passengers, with a maximum of 8 seats in addition to the driver’s seat,

  • N1 – vehicles designed and constructed for the transport of goods with the largest permissible total weight not exceeding 3,500 kg,

The analysis focuses only on vehicles up to 3.5 tons due to their large share. Other categories are rare because current technological progress limits the use of electric motors in heavy trucks. Full electric buses are expanding in urban public transport. There are short routes and a possibility of charging in a city environment. A thorough analysis of the vehicle fleets of Slovak transport companies shows only 47 electric buses registered in Slovakia in 2022. According to sources [31, 32], not all electric buses are in daily operation.

The following figure (Fig. 4) shows the number of passengers and small freight BEVs registered in Slovakia since 2016. Although there is a considerable increase, it is still only an increase in hundreds of vehicles. In the case of small freight vehicles of category N1, there is only an increase in dozens of registered cars per year.

Fig. 4.
figure 4

Total number of M1 and N1 BEV registered in Slovakia [31].

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Charging points (CP) are built relatively quickly. Figure 5 shows their absolute numbers. In 2021, 1,367 public CPs were available. The most extensive percentage increase of 238% occurred between 2015 and 2016 when the charging infrastructure in Slovakia began to develop significantly.

Fig. 5.
figure 5

Total number of public charging points in Slovakia [33].

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Some studies show the recalculation of BEVs per one CP. It is questionable whether to include all BEVs in the calculation or only vehicles up to 3.5 tons. Most CPs are not suitable for trucks and buses. One CP in Slovakia is for about 2.70 BEVs or 2.30 BEVs up to 3.5 tons. Calculations for selected countries are in Table 1.

Table 1. Calculation of BEVs per one CP.
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The numbers of registered BEVs in Slovakia and other EU Countries are very different. Slovakia has less than 4 thousand registered BEVs. On the other hand, there are 1,367 CPs. It means 2.7 BEV per one CP. It is the best number from all compared countries.

4 Proposal for Electromobility Support

This chapter will summarise the measures to date, the aim of which was to support the development of electromobility in road transport. Slovakia has already made many legislative changes. On the other hand, some modified regulations can still help electromobility. This article presents only part of the economic calculations of individual measures.

4.1 Subsidies for BEVs and PHEVs

Many authors [34, 35] currently ask whether the BEV market can function without subsidies. In the Slovak Republic, as part of the subsidy program that ended at the end of June 2018, every citizen, entrepreneur, company, city, or municipality could apply for a subsidy. Its amount was 5,000 € for a BEV and 3,000 € for a PHEV purchase. The vehicle had to be new, purchased in the country and registered for at least two years in Slovakia. The total amount of the distributed subsidy was approximately 5 million €.

The second subsidy call was in 2019. The individual contribution was 8,000 € per one BEV and 5,000 € per one PHEV. Applicants booked all these subsidies in a few minutes.

The Slovak Republic will not have subsidies even in 2022. Citizens can expect the next round in 2023. At the end of 2022, the governments should develop a new action plan for the field of electromobility. It will include the creation of a financial mechanism for subsidies.

One of the recommendations is the support of electromobility through an appropriate amount of subsidy. An extremely high subsidy amount will cause extreme interest. On the contrary, a low amount could cause a considerable lack of interest.

During the first two calls, there was no available BEV with a price lower than 20,000 € in the Slovak Republic. Currently, the cheapest BEV Dacia Spring is also on the domestic market with a base price of 19,000 €. This particular vehicle could improve the availability of BEVs to the public.

4.2 Legislation Measures

Motor vehicle tax applies only to vehicles used for business. BEVs currently have a zero rate. It is no longer possible to reduce the fee in this area.

Another option for supporting electromobility in Slovakia is to reduce the tax burden on the employee (taxpayer) when using a company BEV car for private purposes. This support would affect the amount of tax collected by the financial administration. We have made several calculations in this area. We made two model cases. When 1 BEV is used for private purposes out of 50 registered, such a measure would cost approximately 40 thousand Euros. The price of the BEV with value added tax influenced this tax. Therefore, we calculated the average price of BEV €30,620. If 1 BEV out of 10 were used continuously for private purposes, this measure would cost 179 thousand Euros.

Another proposal for the possibility of supporting electromobility is the reduction of VAT when buying a new electric car. Natural persons could also use this form of price reduction. The lower percentage of VAT can reduce the purchase price of BEV. This proposal is significant, as the purchase price of BEVs is currently a major problem. Such a vehicle needs several tens of thousands of kilometers to compensate for the high investment with low operating costs.

One of the advantages of electric vehicles could be free vignettes for BEVs. It is another possibility to support electromobility in Slovakia. The one-year vignette for Slovak motorways and expressways costs 50 €. Free vignettes for all BEVs for category M1 would cost the 149,950 €, for M1 and N1 157,350 €. The following table (Table 2) shows details.

For comparison, in 2021 the National Motorway Company’s one-year vignette revenue was 33,439,000 € which means they sold 668,780 one-year vignettes. With this number of vignettes sold, 3,147 free one-year vignettes would represent a negligible number. Also, the sum of 157,350 € for this measure represents 0.47% of the sales [36].

Table 2. Calculation of BEVs per one CP.
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Price manipulation is also possible in the area of parking fees. In Slovakia, there is free parking while charging at public CP. Some operators charge a fee of 3 € for each hour after the end of active charging. It is also appropriate to consider discounted rates for BEV and PHEV in individual cities.

5 Conclusion

As can be concluded from the previous text, support for electromobility is primarily related to the economy. It is inverse proportionality. The more BEVs the state wants, the more it will cost. Some of the measures described in this paper are not economically demanding with hundreds of registered BEVs. However, as the experience of Western Europe shows, reduced or waived fees related to electric cars can be considered temporary. If we were to imagine such an abstraction that all vehicles will eventually be electric, there could not be zero tax rates and fees. In Slovakia, relatively quickly measures positively affect the development of electromobility. However, the question is what still discourages people from buying a BEV? There is a wide range of answers. These are psychological (distrust of new technology), technological (short distance, lack of infrastructure), and economic aspects (procurement price, charging price, electricity price, expensive service), which are still obstacles, especially for residents with lower incomes. In this case, it is possible to observe that legislation, economy, and technology are interconnected in transport and cannot be separated.