Adoption of Electric Vehicles in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

Electrification of passenger cars is necessity in the transition towards a net zero emission economy. Electric vehicles (EVs) are widely accepted in many developed countries worldwide. According to the 2022 Global EV Outlook by the IEA, there has been an exponential growth in sale of EVs in recent years, but almost all of these vehicles are concentrated in developed countries, while adoption of EVs in the developing countries lags significantly behind this trend. On the other hand, there are very few studies dealing with progress toward sustainable mobility in developing countries. In this paper we analyzed current framework characteristic for the Republic of Serbia, which has almost negligible share of registered EVs (0.007%). In addition, we analyzed attitudes and preferences of representative Serbian population towards EVs using questionnaire survey. The collected information pertains to the most important reasons for buying an electric car in Serbia as well as the main obstacles. The results given in the study are helpful for policy-makers in similar markets on how to potentially accelerate adoption of EVs in target domains. In addition, the results are also useful to manufacturers of electric vehicles to find out which particular features are most attractive to potential buyers in specific markets.