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Electric Vehicle Chargers Coming to all Russian Gas Stations

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The Russian AutoVAZ El Lada.
The Russian AutoVAZ El Lada.

Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev signed an order requiring that all the country’s fueling stations include chargers for electric vehicles.

According to The Moscow Times, the chargers will need to be installed by November of 2016. The country hopes to incentivize Russian citizens to buy electric vehicles, since only approximately 500 people in the country have bought electric cars since 2011.

There are two models for sale in Russia, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and and the domestically-manufactured El Lada, made by AutoVAZ. However, the Tesla Model S, Nissan leaf and BMW i3 have all been spotted across the country in small numbers.

Gas station owners will be responsible for all the costs associated with buying, installing, and operating the chargers; prices for these stations range from $1,480 (100,000 rubles) to $51,720 (3.5 million rubles), depending on whether the owners opt for a lower-end model like the Level 1 AC unit or something sophisticated like a DC fast-charging station, reports Maxim Osorin. He heads Revolta Motors, a company that sells electric cars but also manages charging networks.

The mandate does not require that any particular type of charger be installed, so many gas station owners may simply just use the cheapest model available.

The government also does not extend any tax credits or cash incentives to make currently costly electric vehicles easier to afford, although drivers of these cars do get free parking.

In addition, the Moscow United Electric Grid Company has already installed 28 public chargers around the country.

It will be interesting to see how this effects Russia’s electric vehicle sales. Either way, it will provide interesting information about the best way to convert people to using clean energy. If Russia soon becomes the world leader in the number of electric cars driven, then improved infrastructure is clearly the way to get more people to adopt the technology themselves. If, on the other hand, it doesn’t work, then it will be clear that monetary incentives like tax credits are the most effective methods of conversion.

Image (c) AutoVAZ

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