Nearly 80 Percent Vehicles in Serbia Consume Diesel Fuel

The number of vehicles in Serbia that consume diesel fuel continues to grow. In 2022, there were 5.5% more than the year before, and compared to 2017, it’s as much as 56% more, which is primarily a consequence of the import of used diesel cars. It is good that, on the other hand, the number of vehicles which use alternative fuels – compressed natural gas (CNG), an ecologically much cleaner fuel – is growing as well, with their number growing from 2,000 in 2017 to 14,400 in 2022. The problem, however, is that, within that structure, there’s still the least passenger vehicles and that these are heavy cargo vehicles, pointed out Tomislav Micovic, the secretary general of the Association of Oil Companies of Serbia (UNKS), at the panel “The Use of Gas as Motor Fuel”, which the Energija Balkana portal organized within the Southeast Europe Gas Forum 2023.

He reminded that the amendments to the Law on Planning and Construction in 2023 had also introduced the obligation for all residential or office facilities that are being built to have a certain number of electric car chargers. The same pertains to all the gas stations located on IA-grade roads.

– In 2011, we had the biggest excise tax on petrol and the lowest on liquefied natural gas (TNG). In five years, the situation changed dramatically. Diesel fuel surpassed petrol in terms of the excise tax, and LNG came very close to all of them. That is why we have a change in the structure of the total consumption of fuel in Serbia. Diesel grew from 77% in 2020 to 79.1% in 2022, which shows that it’s high time for the ministries of environmental protection, energy, transport etc. to get involved in the policy of excise taxation, in addition to the Ministry of Finance, so as to pay more attention to ecology and pollution – Micovic believes.

He reminds that, from January 1, 2025, excise taxes on all natural gas are to be implemented and that there are three groups of consumers – the industry, which will get natural gas without an excise tax, heating, for which there will be a minimal excise tax, and CNG, which is used to power motor vehicles, for which the excise tax will be slightly higher.

Udruženje naftnih kompanija Srbije Beograd

Tomislav Mićović

Southeast Europe Gas Forum 2023

diesel vehicles

electric cars