The electric vehicle fleet in Russia has grown considerably.
Photo: Alexey BULATOV
ELECTRIC CARS: LEFT DRIVING!
Russian motorists are increasingly confident in adopting electric and hybrid cars – vehicles that have both a traditional internal combustion engine and an electric one. During the year, the fleet of this type of machines grew by 40%. If on July 1, 2022 there were only 23.3 thousand, on July 1, 2023 there were already 32.7 thousand, reports the analytical agency Autostat (78.6% are electric vehicles).
Of course, this is a drop in the bucket in the total volume of passenger cars (as of July 1, 2023: 45.74 million units), but if you look at the dynamics, this is the most actively developing sector. Thus, during the eight months of 2023, 6,995 new electric cars were sold (under 3 years old and registered for the first time in Russia), 4.4 times more than in January-August of last year. And in August, a record 1,474 specimens found owners, 8.2 times more than the previous year.
And what analysts have noticed most is that electric cars are moving rapidly to the left. If a year ago right-hand drive cars represented 62% of this category, indicating their Japanese origin, now the panorama has changed radically: 55% belong to left-hand drive cars.
This was facilitated, first of all, by the growth of imports of new Chinese and used European electric vehicles through parallel import channels. Domestic production also contributed: first of all, these are electric vehicles of the Evolute brand. In eight months of 2023, 1,220 examples of this brand were registered. Drivers of electric vehicles from Lipetsk lead sales among new vehicles of this class. There are also electric cars from the Moskvich Automobile Plant on the market, but they are sold much less.
And in total, more than 18.5 thousand electric cars will roll off Russian assembly lines this year, nine times more than last year. More than 36,000 are already planned for next year, and in 2035, one in four cars produced in Russia will be electric!
THEY ARE GOOD?
Oh, this is a completely different feeling, say connoisseurs.
“In terms of technical characteristics, they are ahead of cars with an internal combustion engine,” shares his impressions with KP Oleg Timashev, general director of the Electric Vehicles+ company. – The most impressive thing is the acceleration up to 100 km/h (100 km/h – ed.), like in racing cars, the power of the engine. Then, the weight distribution of the car is very important for control. The heavy battery is located in the underbody area and in the center of the car, so the center of gravity of the entire structure is lower and more centralized than in conventional cars. This is a big plus for handling: during sharp turns, it does not go off the road, but walks as if on rails. You can make tight turns at higher speeds without fear of tipping over. In my opinion, this sportiness is especially pronounced in the Tesla. Even the usual models of this brand behave on the road like a sports BMW or a Porsche with a traditional engine.
Repairs and maintenance are also cheaper. As the Fit-Service company told Komsomolskaya Pravda, if the owner of a car with an internal combustion engine spends an average of 14 thousand rubles on repairs and maintenance. per year, then the owner of the electric car – 5200 rubles. Almost three times cheaper!
Operating costs are also lower: electricity is cheaper than gasoline and diesel. In addition, in many regions electric vehicles are exempt from paying transport tax, in some, for example in Moscow and St. Petersburg, parking is also free. Electric train owners pay no money to travel on federal toll roads.
TOP 5 BRANDS OF ELECTRIC AND HYBRID VEHICLES
Name / Share of the total number of registered vehicles, %
Nissan – 38
Tesla-12.7
Mitsubishi-7.4
Porsche – 4.7
Volkswagen-4.2
TOP 5 BRANDS AMONG NEW ELECTRIC VEHICLES, August 2023
Name/Number of cars sold
Zeekr – 285
Evolve – 191
Volkswagen – 165
Tesla – 140
Hongqi – 106
TOP 5 MODELS AMONG NEW ELECTRIC VEHICLES, August 2023
Name/Number of cars sold
Zeekr 001 – 254
Volkswagen iD.4 – 109
Hongqi e-HS9 – 106
i-Joy Evolution – 101
Tesla Model Y – 92
Source: “Autostat”
