Cleaner transport, fewer emissions: Russia approves electric transport concept by the end of this decade

Photo: Press Service of the Moscow Mayor and Moscow Government

The Russian government has approved a concept for the development of electric transport production and related infrastructure until 2030. This follows a statement by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at a meeting with deputy prime ministers.

The document approved by the Cabinet of Ministers affects practically all categories of vehicles — from cars and buses to heavy tractor trucks.

The concept defines key tasks in this area, which include stimulating demand through preferential lending and developing comprehensive urban programmes.

According to Mikhail Mishustin, development of production and use of electric vehicles in Russia will have a positive impact on the Russian automotive industry and related industries. In addition, electrification of transport will help to create a modern and comfortable urban environment.

“A number of nations have already stated a desire to move away from transport with internal combustion engines. It is clear that the future belongs to electric cars or cars that run on more environmentally friendly power units.

And we also need to actively develop this area, especially since a number of competences already exist in the country. We expect that the implementation of the ideas and solutions laid down in the concept will allow us to form our own industry for the production of electric cars, attract private investment and create about 40,000 high-performance jobs along the entire technological chain — from electrochemistry to the production of electric-powered vehicles,” the news agency quotes the head of the Cabinet as saying.

In Russia, new electric vehicles account for an insignificant share of vehicle sales. In the first half of 2021, only 552 new electric cars were sold in the Russian Federation, accounting for 0.06% of the total passenger car and light truck market.

Used electric vehicles are in high demand. According to the Autostat agency, the electric Nissan Leaf imported to the Far East regions from Japan is the most popular vehicle purchased by Russians. At the beginning of the year there were about 7 thousand cars of this model in the country.

New electric public transport in Russia is produced by KAMAZ and GAZ. They supply electric buses and charging stations for them to Moscow.

Earlier, the Ministry of Economic Development estimated the market turnover of the emerging electric transport industry at RUB 1.9 trillion by 2030.

According to Rustam Abulmambetov, head of the Department for the Development of Machine Building, Light and Chemical Industries of the Department for the Development of Sectors of the Economy, the total cost of developing the production and use of electric-powered vehicles in the country could be up to RUB 800 billion.

Cover photo: Press Service of the Moscow Mayor and Moscow Government