Nikos Loupakis Nikos Loupakis studied mechanical engineering in Moscow (MADI – Technical University, Moscow Automobile and Road Construction Institute) and for the past twenty nine years has been working as a journalist, for many motoring and non-motoring publications, daily newspapers and magazines, for radio & TV stations and for web sites. He has worked as a technical editor, editor in chief, editorial consultant and editorial director, for many major automotive publications (“4 wheels”, “Auto Motor und Sport”, “Drive” and “Car & Driver” magazines) and he has accumulated a great knowledge of the Greek automotive market. Of necessity and through personal interest he has kept up to date with developments and advances in automotive technology particularly concerning environmental issues.
High prices, lack of state incentives and, of course, the economic crisis are the main reasons for the extremely low volume of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) sales in Greece (M1 category). In the mean time only four companies (BMW, Nissan, Smart and Volkswagen) import and sell BEVs and cumulative sales since 2013, until the end of June 2018, have reached only 244 units. This year, two more companies (Ecosun and Zhidou) start selling small chinese BEVs. Minor changes in taxation legislation could help boost BEV sales with minimum cost for the Greek Economy.