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year (March 21-June 21), company director Gholamabbas Hosseini added. “NIGC transferred around 852 mcm of gas on January 6 this year—that was the highest daily volume the company has ever transferred since it was established in 1965,” Hosseini also noted.
In an update, Hosseini added that the total length of gas transfer pipelines in Iran has exceeded 38,000 kilometres. Close to 1,000 km were added in the past year.
IGTC, a subsidiary of NIGC, oversees the operations of 88 gas pressure boosting stations.
Hosseini said the country’s gas grid is equipped with 326 compressors, including high-pressure gas compressors, turbo compressors, electro-compressors and engine compressors.
9.2.2 Automotive corporate news
Iran’s IKCO unveils first all-electric car
Iranian, Russian auto companies sign 12 MoUs on deals worth $700mn in sanctions fightback
Iran’s largest automaker Iran Khodro (IKCO) has unveiled its first all-electric car, a version of the company’s Tara model.
A commercial launch has been scheduled for March 2023.
After lifting the curtain on the electric vehicle (EV) at its headquarters in western Tehran, IKCO informed local media that the model was designed and developed by IKCO’s technology arm Jetco, was equipped with a 45 kWh battery pack and would have a travel range of 300 kilometres on a full charge. Jetco CEO Davud Esmailpour was reported as saying that 15 Iranian companies were involved in designing and developing the Tara EV, which would become the first EV to reach mass production in Iran
The car, Esmailpour was also cited as saying, was developed based on the reverse engineering of a Tesla model. The EV was currently undergoing tests in Germany and Spain, he added.
IKCO is sourcing all the parts used in the all-electric Tara from domestic manufacturers except for the battery cells. Iranian battery makers would be able to take over the production of the required cells if enough investment was secured, according to the company.
Some local reports said IKCO planned to manufacture 5,000 Tara EV units in the first year of production. Government support for supplying some of the cars to municipality-controlled taxi fleets would reportedly be sought.
Iranian and Russian automotive companies have signed 12 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) covering deals of $700mn in line with cooperation between Iran and Russia on shoring up their defences against Western economic sanctions, official Iranian news agency IRNA reported on August 24.
The dozen MoUs were inked during a ceremony held on the sidelines of the MIMS Automobility Moscow 2022 car show that started earlier this week. Contracts would reportedly focus on key aspects of auto manufacturing, with Iranian auto component makers, for instance, to produce and sell powder metallurgy parts to Russian automakers.
Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali told media: “Our car parts manufacturers shined during the car show and made the country proud.”
As bne IntelliNews reported on August 22, Russia is turning to Iran to help rescue its car industry, which has been badly hit by sanctions sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Iran has been under various rafts if sanctions for decades, but has managed to develop a large automotive sector that caters to its domestic demand. Tehran has made it clear it is only too happy to help.
As with top Iranian automaker Iran Khodro (IKCO), biggest Russian car
76 IRAN Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com