http://scibilitymedia.com/russia-pushes-for-more-electric-vehicles/ Russia Pushes for More Electric Vehicles By EquiPress October 2, 2015
The interest in electric vehicles is gathering pace, in no small part due to the unpredictable price of oil and the ever increasing concern over greenhouse emissions which is causing many auto makers to increasing investment in more environmentally friendly vehicles. Bold Move While Japan and China recently helped push the number of electric cars on the road over the one million mark, there seems to be a new and unexpected player in the field, Russia. In a surprise move, the Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, signed an order in August which states that by November 1 next year, all gas stations in the country will have to be equipped with charging stations for electric vehicles. The move is part of Medvedev’s “green initiative”, which aims to stimulate the market for electric cars in Russia. However, given that the total number of electric vehicles on the road in Russia barely reaches 500, it seems a bold but rather odd move. Climate and Price Concerns The take up of electric cars in Russia is low despite the fact that the first electronic vehicle was introduced to the country by Mitsubishi in 2011. The high price and cold weather have deterred interest from much of the population. Also, as there are no factories producing electronic cars in Russia, each one has to be imported, increasing the cost significantly. Furthermore, cars which normally have a range of at least a couple of hundred kilometers, when fully charged, can only manage up to 80 kilometers when driven in Russia’s cold climate. This is due to the need to constantly heat the car which drains the battery much more quickly. In the end, it is clear that to really jump start the market in Russia, the government will have to tackle more than just the issue of charging stations. While they might be a good first step, until the prices go down and there is a better network of service centers for maintenance, the results of this initiative may not be what the Prime Minister is hoping for. [© scibilitymedia.com] http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/first-moscow-parking-lot-equipped-with-electric-ar-charger/537417.html First Moscow Parking Lot Equipped With Electric Сar Charger By Anastasia Bazenkova Oct. 06 2015 [images / Pascal Dumont http://www.themoscowtimes.com/upload/iblock/323/5711-05-cars-dumont.jpg The charger was installed in a parking lot located at 20 Ulitsa Bakhrushina near Paveletsky Station as part of the Electrotransport program designed to boost the use of electric vehicles in Moscow http://www.themoscowtimes.com/multimedia/photogalleries/moscows-electric-car-drivers-get-helping-hand-with-parking-lot-charger/6016.html photo gallery ] The first electric car charging point has been installed in a parking lot in Moscow in the latest step by the city's authorities to stimulate an eco-friendly means of transport that has so far proved unpopular with Russians. The opening of the electric car charger is a first step toward creating a network of chargers for electric vehicles in Moscow, and is a major incentive for drivers to buy an electric car, Dmitry Pronin, deputy head of Moscow's transport department, said at the presentation of the first charging point Tuesday. The charger was installed in a parking lot located at 20 Ulitsa Bakhrushina near Paveletsky Station as part of the Electrotransport program designed to boost the use of electric vehicles in Moscow. Under the program, state electricity company and distribution grid Rosseti purchases and installs equipment for the charging stations while City Hall allocates plots of land for their location. In the next three to four months, 50 paid parking lots inside Moscow's Third Ring Road will be equipped with electric car chargers, Roman Berdnikov, first deputy general director for technology at Rosseti, said in a statement Tuesday. By the end of next year, Moscow will have 150 electric car chargers in public parking lots, he said. Rosseti was already developing a network of charging stations in Moscow together with its subsidiary the Moscow United Electric Grid Company. The network currently comprises about 30 charging stations installed on Moscow streets, highways and at shopping malls. Setting up charging points in Moscow parking lots will make them more accessible for drivers, Berdnikov said, adding that until the end of next year, the owners of electric cars in Moscow can charge their vehicles in the public car parks free of charge. City Hall also offers electric car drivers free parking in Moscow, but despite these measures, electric cars remain an exotic means of transportation in Russia. Only about 500 electric cars have been sold in Russia in total since 2011, when the first electric vehicles entered the market, according to Andrei Toptun, head of analysis at the Autostat car market research agency. And the already tiny market for electric cars is currently showing a decline. In the first half of the year, fewer than 50 electric cars were bought, down 25 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Autostat. Two of the main obstacles to the growth of the electric car market in Russia are the relatively high price of the vehicles and the additional challenge to them presented by Russia's harsh weather conditions. Despite disappointing statistics, some industry representatives are convinced the market has potential. "We are absolutely positive that electric cars are the future," Tigran Khudaverdyan, head of Yandex.Taxi, the taxi app of Russia's major Internet company Yandex, said at the presentation. The development of eco-friendly transport in Moscow is hampered by a lack of infrastructure, he said, expressing hope that the installation of electric charging points will improve the situation. Yandex.Taxi's vehicle pool currently includes two Tesla electric cars that the company purchased in July, said Khudaverdyan. According to Rosseti's Berdnikov, the network of charging points will expand to 10 Russian regions, with 1,000 chargers by the end of 2018. Chargers are also set to appear at gas stations around the country in the near future, after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree in August ordering all gas stations in Russia to install them by Nov. 1, 2016. [© 2015 The Moscow Times] ... https://taxi.yandex.com/ (Has Tesla-S EVs as taxis) ... [dated] http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-taxi-yandex-ru-using-Tesla-S-EVs-same-as-Amsterdam-nl-tp4676991.html EVLN: taxi.yandex.ru using Tesla-S EVs same as Amsterdam.nl Jul 31 2015 For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Russia-s-Push-for-More-EVs-and-public-EVSE-tp4677939.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
