Page 19 - RusRPTJul21

2.7 Russia developing an EV business
A program to develop the production and use of Russian electric vehicles (EV) has almost doubled in price, The Bell reports on June 23.
Like everyone else Russia has been turning its mind to making electrically powered cars and earmarked RUB418bn ($5.75bn) to promote the development.
As early as next year, 3,000 Russian-made electric vehicles should go on sale, and by 2030, Russia is supposed to be producing 217,000 EVs on its own, according to the plan, Kommersant reports.
But the programme has already been hitting snags that are going to double the cost to RUB803bn ($11bn), the paper reported.
The funds are intended for preferential car loans and leasing of electric vehicles, the creation of charging stations and the production of components.
The Ministry of Economic Development intended to fund the project with RUB153.5bn rubles from the budget and an addition RUB181.6bn rubles from extra-budgetary funds.
Part of this budgetary funding was supposed to be raised from a levy on petrol cars, as well as a returning import duty and a tenfold increase in waste collection for electric vehicles. By 2030, the budget of the program should be replenished by RUB72.4bn due to the "tariff protection" in the form of waste collection and import duties, which from 2022 will increase from zero to 5%, and from 2025 - up to 15%.
The first 3,000 cars due on the market next year are being made by Motorinvest based in Lipetsk in 2022, with the production doubling again by 2023, according to the Ministry of Economic Development. Motorinvest is not making cars from scratch, but assembling Chinese cars made by Changan.
However, in the next two years some of Russia’s major carmakers are getting into the EV business too. Avtotor and KAMAZ plan to produce 5,000 electric vehicles each by 2024. Avtotor plans to start producing electric vehicles at the Kaliningrad plant in 2023, TASS wrote in March this year. Kia and Hyundai are also working on the project together with the Russian holding. By 2030, the authorities plan that 217,000 electric vehicles will be produced in Russia.
In the original version, the Ministry of Economic Development predicted that the share of electric vehicles in Russian sales would reach 1.7% in 2022 and as much as 15% in 2030. For comparison, the G7 countries plan to bring the share of electric vehicles in sales to 50% in the next 10 years, and some sooner. Last year, 687 new electric vehicles were sold in Russia, or less than 0.1% of the market, The Bell reports.
19 RUSSIA Country Report July 2021 www.intellinews.com