According to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), and the Passenger Motor Vehicles Section of the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce regarding the popularity of 100% electric vehicles, Slovenia is one of the rare countries where the statistics show no new registered vehicles driven by alternative fuel sources.
In the third quarter of the year the sale of such vehicle increased by seven percent. The largest increase was recorded for battery-driven vehicles (full electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids), namely more than 20%, while the demand for gas driven vehicles (CNG and LPG) is diminishing.
Electric cars most popular in Norway
The sale of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and especially electric vehicles has reached 20% for the fourth consecutive quarter. The largest increase of sale of battery driven vehicles occurred in the first three quarters of the 2016, compared to the same period in 2015 - 138% in Austria, where almost 3,000 electric battery vehicles have been sold from the beginning of January until September.
Norway remains the largest market for such vehicles, as in the period from the beginning of January until the end of September, 17,485 vehicles were registered for the first time, which is only by 28 thousand less than in the entire European Union.
The countries in which the sale of electric vehicles is slow are Bulgaria (0 registrations), Greece (8) and Latvia (20). In France (16,091), Germany (7,687) and Great Britain (8,107) more than 5,000 electric vehicles were registered for the first time.
In Slovenia the growth can be attributed to Car Sharing
As our country is not included in the Acea statistics, we took a look at the statistical data of the motor vehicles section of the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce. From November 2015 until November 2016, 151 electric vehicles were registered for the first time, namely 26 more than in the same period of the year before. The leading models were BMW i3 (50), Renault Zoe (30) and VW e-golf (21). It should be taken into consideration that the first car-sharing with electric vehicles started operating in Ljubljana, which has in its car park the models Zoe and i3, and the electr4ic Smart Fortwo (5 registrations). VW e-golf is included into the offer by the City municipality of Ljubljana (MOL) and its Eurban transport. The electric cars used by the municipality of Ljubljana are hired.
Among the cars which were registered for the first time during the last twelve months there are also 11 prestigious models Tesla S and 14 of Nissan Leaf models, and more than 10 electric vehicles model Kangoo z. e.
Subventions failed to convince private individual buyers
Subventions of up to € 7,500 obviously have not yet enticed private individual buyers. Besides the infrastructure which has recently improved - charging stations are now available on the highway network - the reach with one charging remains the greatest obstacle. This year several providers of electric vehicles offered cars with promised reach of more than 300 kilometres with one charging, but we are still waiting for them - namely VW e-golf, Renault Zoe and Opel Ampera-e for which the buyers from Slovenia will have to wait for at least another year.

For Avtomobilnost show we drove Renault Zoe in Portugal; we chose the model with the more powerful battery. You can learn about our experience with the actual distance driven with one charging by watching a part of the last show.