Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in Croatia – First-Hand Experiences and Recommendations for Future Development

One of the most serious obstacles to massive deployment of electric vehicles is insufficient and cumbersome charging infrastructure. Both the number of charging points and their power capacity are often insufficient. On top of that, this new technology often suffers from many issues related to insufficient testing, immaturity and irregular handling. This paper summarizes the issues with the electric vehicle charging infrastructure and describes first-hand experiences with long-range electric vehicle trips originating from Zagreb, Croatia, during 2022. Issues with the charging points locations, power and availability are assessed. Based on these experiences, the paper provides some thoughts on the possible directions of the further development of the electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Croatia.