At the two-day conference, which started on Thursday, Primož Lemež of E-mobility.si warned that "more than a billion euro in damage is caused globally by air pollution produced by the transport sector".

Slovenian MEP Igor Šoltes (Greens) meanwhile noted that the EU liked to adopt long-term commitments in this field "which it then fails to stick to".

According to Šoltes, EU member states are already losing the race with China, where e-mobility and, consequently, the production of electric vehicles and components is on a strong rise.

As quoted by the organisers, the MEP said that the EU was drafting a call for applications for development of batteries for electric vehicles worth EUR 114bn, which was expected to create up to 260,000 jobs.

Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek took part in the conference yesterday, saying that Slovenia had a development strategy as part of which the ministry planned to promote electric buses and sharing of e-cars.

Dutch Ambassador to Slovenia Bart Twaalfhoven and Evert Jan Schuurmann, a senior advisor at the Dutch Ministry of Transport, meanwhile presented the country's plans in e-mobility.

Twaalfhoven said that the Netherlands planned a complete ban on the use of internal combustion engines by 2030, when greenhouse gas emissions are expected to be reduced by almost 50% compared to today.

The plan is expected to be achieved in cooperation with local communities, including with additional subsidies and public-private partnerships.

Uroš Salobir, the strategic innovation director at the national grid operator ELES, said that caution would be needed once electric cars became a mainstay in Slovenia. "Electric cars could gradually overload the existing and future network."

Richard Bachinger, a representative of the Austrian fuel retailer OMV, said that diesel and petrol were "like sugar to the body - an unhealthy but convenient source of energy, which we need to get rid of in everyday transport".