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Electric Vehicles and Development of Charging Infrastructure was the central theme of the second day of the RENWEX 2023 conference programme.

The section on electric vehicles and charging infrastructure at RENWEX is growing year by year. This is clear evidence of the worldwide trend towards the development of electric vehicles. This season, the RENWEX organisers decided to highlight this important trend in its conference programme by setting aside a day to discuss the pressing issues and problems that exist in the field of domestic electric vehicles.

The day’s conference programme opened with the session on Electric Transport in Russia and the World, moderated by Oleg Pertsovsky, Chief Operating Officer of the Energy Efficiency Cluster at the Skolkovo Foundation.

“The structure of the types of energy used in transport is now changing rapidly,” he noted in his opening speech. “In 2022, around 10 million electric vehicles were sold globally. In 2021, by comparison, 6.6 million. On average, 14% of vehicles worldwide were electric last year. China leads in sales of electric vehicles. Start-ups are actively developing new technologies, both in the field of electric vehicles themselves and various components, primarily energy storage systems.”

The moderator stressed that Russia has adopted a number of documents on the development of electric transport at the state level and asked Rustam Abulmambetov, Head of the Department of Economic Sector Development of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, to highlight the implementation of these decisions.

“In fact, the world is experiencing a surge in the growth of electric transport,” said the representative of the Ministry of Economic Development. “In 2021, the government actively joined the work in this area together with the business community. The latest data from the State Inspectorate for Traffic Security shows that more than 30,000 electric cars have already been registered in our country. In 2022, 8 regions were included in the project implemented by the state in this area with 439 fast charging stations; charging stations have also been installed on the M4 highway. In 2023, additional 32 pilot regions were included in the project and it is planned to install about 700 fast charging stations by the end of the year. In 2024, I think we will be able to cover the entire territory of Russia with charging stations.”

Alexey Tikhonov, Director General at Electro Mobility from Nizhny Novgorod, shared with the session participants the results of Russia’s first experience of launching a full-fledged city electric taxi.

“Certainly, the charging infrastructure has to go a little faster than electric cars,” the speaker clarified. “On the other hand, when we are massively setting up charging stations in the city today for potential users, it turns out that we have to wait five to six years for the demand to appear, which will ensure return on investment in the infrastructure. Today, a government programme is helping us to install a fast charging network. The main task is to shorten the period from the time of investment in charging to the time when demand appears. And this is where we find keen interest from the corporate segment, which includes taxis, delivery services, car sharing, followed by the main segment of private demand.”

Representatives from electric vehicle manufacturers and developers took part in the following discussion, among them Head of Electrified Vehicle Services at KAMAZ Innovation Center Alexander Klimov, Commercial Director at ATOM Ruslan Shevchenko, Director General at Concordia Alexey Mikheev, Project CEO at Nextelectro, Deputy Director General at SpetsAutoEngineering  Snezhana Trantina, Co-founder of Ermak Industries Alexander Polyakov, as well as other members of the electric vehicle industry.

The conference programme of the second day of RENWEX 2023 featured the panel on Development of Charging Infrastructure: Building Technology Competencies and Implementation of Pilot Projects. It was conducted by Iya Gordeeva, Chair at the Association for Development of the Electromobile, Unmanned and Connected Transport and Infrastructure.

The round table was attended by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan Marat Minibaev, Deputy Chair at the Leningrad Oblast Government – Chair at the Committee on Economic Development and Investment Activities Dmitry Yalov, Professor of Practice at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) Dmitry Titov, Director of the Transport Department at the Skolkovo Foundation Kirill Zhanaydarov, top managers of the companies specialising in electric vehicles, and industry experts.

A separate technology session dedicated to energy storage systems was also held as part of the Electric Vehicle Day. The participants exchanged information on promising Russian developments in this important area, which accumulates the main innovation potential of the electric vehicle industry.

Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO