Bratislava, January 22, 2025 – The year 2024 marked a strengthening of GreenWay’s position as the operator of the largest network of public charging points for electric vehicles in Central and Eastern Europe. Currently, it provides public charging services in Poland, Slovakia, and Croatia, complemented by activities for corporate customers in the Czech Republic and Hungary. Over the year, the network added more than 40,000 new drivers, 358 new locations, more than 700 charging points, and electric vehicles covered 115 million kilometers on the energy supplied. This saved 15 million kilograms of CO₂ emissions.
Although the results in Slovakia contributed to the company’s overall successful year, they lag significantly behind Poland: “The utilization rate of charging stations in our northern neighbors is almost twice as high as ours. While there are nearly 11 electric vehicles per public charging point there, here it is only 6,” explains GreenWay CEO Peter Badík, adding: “GreenWay has significantly contributed to the fact that in Slovakia we do not have to deal with the chicken-and-egg problem of whether the electric vehicle or the charger should come first. We have built the infrastructure to serve several times the number of electric vehicles currently on Slovak roads.” This is why the company directed a larger portion of its network-building investments to Poland and Croatia last year.
Nevertheless, in Slovakia, the GreenWay network added 148 new charging points and 6,286 drivers. The amount of energy delivered to electric vehicle batteries increased by 40 percent to more than 3 GWh. Thanks to this, drivers covered over 15 million kilometers without local emissions, and the atmosphere is “lighter” by 2,000 tons of CO₂ and 12 tons of NOx (nitrogen oxides that cause smog and acid rain). More than a third (55) of the new charging points were put into operation in Tesco parking lots across Slovakia. GreenWay also developed and brought a new mobile application to customers last year, common to all markets. Positive feedback suggests that thanks to a thorough understanding of customer needs, a truly effective solution for “mobile” charging was delivered. “However, we also had to make unpopular decisions required by the market situation and the unwillingness of our roaming partners to charge fair prices among themselves,” explains the GreenWay director.
Comprehensive solutions for corporate fleets
Building and operating public charging infrastructure is just one of the pillars on which the company stands. Last year, GreenWay also focused on offering B2B solutions that help companies transition to zero-emission transport efficiently. Electromobility in companies means not only optimizing operating costs, saving emissions, or meeting ESG goals but also convenient management of the vehicle fleet, drivers, and charging from one place. “For partners like Scania and Coca-Cola, we have prepared tailor-made solutions that comprehensively cover all the charging needs of their electric fleets of both passenger and utility vehicles. We used our long-standing experience to set up private charging stations and stations in depots and headquarters. If needed, they can recharge on the road in our public network, and thus have the entire charging process turnkey from one supplier,” explains GreenWay COO Michal Mydlo. As part of the EES consortium, the company also joined forces with other specialized firms from various sectors, which together can guide a company of any size through electrification – from needs analysis, financing, selection and delivery of specific models to the construction and operation of charging infrastructure, fleet management, drivers, and billing.
Electromobility and its future in Slovakia
For the healthy development of the electromobility ecosystem in Slovakia, it will be extremely important to find a balance between the number of charging stations and electric vehicles on the roads. “Operators have built a robust infrastructure, which will be supplemented by hundreds of additional charging points in the near future. This is great news for electric vehicle owners – they will never have to wait to charge. Operators, however, are less pleased with the situation, as they expected a certain level of utilization, but we are miles away from that today,” comments Peter Badík on the market situation, adding that Slovakia is currently “overbuilt.” Therefore, GreenWay will focus more on service quality and sustainability: “The race for construction volume is over. Future investment decisions must align with the increasing number of electric cars on Slovak roads so that we do not reduce the efficiency of the existing infrastructure.”
The challenge for charging infrastructure operators is not only the absence of support programs for the purchase of electric vehicles or the construction of chargers but also an unstable legislative environment. The decision of the Regulatory Office for Network Industries to cancel the e-tariff (a special rate for charging stations) will cause serious problems for infrastructure operators, according to Michal Mydlo: “Someone made a decision from the desk that disrupted the stability of the ecosystem and probably did not realize that without the e-tariff, many more electric vehicles will be needed on the roads to make the operation of charging stations profitable.” According to him, such steps force operators to be much more cautious when planning new projects.
The e-tariff issue most affects larger charging hubs, which are already struggling with low utilization rates. These high-speed charging parks are supposed to be built near highways within a year and a half with funds from the Recovery Plan, offering over 300 new ultra-fast charging points. “The current wording of the decree discourages operators from even applying to operate these locations. If the legislation does not take into account the real needs of the market, it will hinder not only the further development of infrastructure but the entire electromobility ecosystem in Slovakia,” concludes Michal Mydlo.
