Slovak municipalities, companies, and expressway locations will all be eligible for financing of public electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure under a new set of EV charging infrastructure grants to be launched by the Slovak Ministry of Economy.
These investments will be complemented by a series of regulatory reforms designed to remove some of the obstacles to deploying these stations, boost the impact of these investments, and make Slovakia more ready for the coming era of electrification. These initiatives were all proposed as part of Slovakia’s € 6.3 bil Recovery and Resilience Plan, which was approved by the European Commission in July 2021.
The Slovak EV Association (SEVA) was pleased to actively contribute to both, EV charging infrastructure subsidy program and policy action plan. The government is expected to also introduce new tools to boost EV market uptake, introduce regulatory changes to streamline the permitting process and remove other barriers.
The charging infrastructure funding component consists of:
- Motorways & Expressways – € 30 mil
- Cities – € 10 mil
- Companies – € 6 mil
Motorways & Expressways
Slovakia is allocating € 30 mil to a new program to develop a National Network of Ultrafast Charging Infrastructure along motorways and expressways. The program will establish more than 60 charging hubs with 230 points, locations with 4-6 ultra- fast charging stations of at least 150 kW, and at least a 1 MW connection to each hub. This will ensure they can handle multiple, high-power rapid charging sessions and grow to accommodate even more.
The State will provide 100% grant funding for the installation and operation of the hardware and the grid connection to the location. Charge point operators will receive concessions to operate the sites. Providers and operators will be selected via open tenders, which are planned to be announced in 2023.
SEVA has been closely consulting with the responsible Ministry to prepare detailed terms and tenders.
Municipalities
A complementary program will be the €10 mil grant program for charging hubs in municipalities. Under this program, municipalities with populations over 7 000 people (over 100 cities in Slovakia) can apply to the State to fund applications they prepare for charging infrastructure deployments. This municipal funding scheme will seek to deploy primarily AC charging points ≥11 kW, with some number of DC ≥50 kW eligible as well, to provide a range of charging options for different types of users. The program will be announced in December 2022, and municipalities are beginning to work on their applications now. This program will significantly complement the more that 1 300 public charging points available in Slovakia today.
SEVA, jointly with the responsible Ministry, will organize initial information webinars and provide consultations to the municipalities.
Companies
The final element of the Slovak E-mobility Action Plan is the grant program for companies. Under this € 6+ mil program, the State will provide up to 50% of the funding for companies to deploy public AC chargers ≥11kW and DC ≥50 kW charging points.
SEVA is closely consulting with the responsible Ministry about the detailed conditions and how to apply, which are expected to be announced next month.
