March 16 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government has introduced subsidies for the acquisition of electric and hybrid vehicles as part of measures to improve air quality, it said.
The government will provide up to 120 million dinars ($1.1 million/1 million euro) to finance the incentive this year, it said in a statement last week.
The subsidies will be provided on the day of the payment of the purchase price and will amount to 250 euro ($280) and 500 euro in Serbian dinars equivalent for electric mopeds and motorcycles, respectively, while for electric passenger cars and light commercial vehicles the subsidy will stand at 5,000 euro, the government said.
A subsidy of 3,500 euro will be provided for the acquisition of hybrid vehicles with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of up to 50 grammes per kilometre. The incentive for the acquisition of hybrid vehicles with emissions between 50 and 100 grammes per kilometre will total 5,000 euro.
Belgrade deputy mayor Goran Vesic said last month the city government plans to install 17 electric vehicle chargers in the streets of Serbia's capital in 2020 as part of the efforts to fight air pollution.
In January, the Energy Community, an organisation promoting the establishment of an integrated European energy market, said it opened a dispute settlement procedure against Serbia over the lack of adoption of a National Emission Reduction Plan. The secretariat approved the draft NERP of Serbia in 2016. In the past years, the secretariat has repeatedly called upon the Serbian authorities for its adoption, which however has not happened, the Energy Community said.
(1 euro = 117.647 dinars)