Since the beginning of the year, the recycling fee for electric vehicles and hybrid cars with a sequential circuit has significantly increased in Russia. This leads to an increase in the cost of "environmentally friendly" vehicles, specifically the most affordable versions. According to experts, the market is expecting an increase in the share of unofficial imports and a decrease in official sales.
Indexation
Previously, for electric vehicles and hybrid cars with an internal combustion engine (ICE), the coefficient determining the amount of the recycling fee was 1.63 (for models up to three years old) and 6.1 (for models older than three years). Now, these coefficients are 33.37 and 58.7, respectively.
In monetary terms, this means that the base rate of 20 thousand rubles now corresponds to 667.4 thousand and 1.174 million rubles, respectively. Before this, the recycling fee for such cars was 32.6 thousand rubles and 122 thousand rubles. Thus, from January 1, 2025, it increased by more than 20 times.
According to the analytical agency "Autostat", last year the share of electric vehicles in sales was 1%, and hybrid cars - 4%. At the same time, sales of electric vehicles increased by 26%, and hybrid cars - almost doubled.
Blow to the wallet
The introduction of new recycling rates for electric vehicles and hybrids will inevitably affect their cost, especially budget models. The editor-in-chief of the magazine "Za Rulem" Maxim Kadakov noted that, undoubtedly, these 667.4 thousand rubles will be included in the retail price of the car. And if for premium cars or hybrids that cost from 10 to 12 million rubles, this increase will not be so noticeable against the background of the overall high cost, then for models costing from 2.5 to 4 million rubles, such a price increase will be very significant.
According to him, even relatively affordable "green" cars were significantly more expensive than their competitors with traditional internal combustion engines. And now, when their cost increases by another 667 thousand rubles, the difference will become even more obvious. This, in turn, may negatively affect demand, the expert believes.
The introduction of increased recycling rates for electric vehicles and hybrid cars from January 1, 2025, according to Irina Frank, managing director of Frank Auto, will have a significant impact on the market for environmentally friendly cars in Russia.
The increase in prices for such vehicles may become an obstacle for potential buyers, especially for those who consider electric vehicles and hybrids as a way to save money, Irina Frank believes.
The increase in prices will negatively affect demand. Consumers may refuse to buy or switch to more affordable traditional cars, which will lead to a decrease in the already small share of electric cars in the Russian market. However, the segment of premium "electric cars" is unlikely to be severely affected, since consumers with high incomes are always less sensitive to price increases.
Sergey Melyukh, head of Avilon Electro, emphasizes that the increase in prices for electric vehicles and hybrid cars will not have a significant impact on this segment as a whole. He is confident that the share of electric vehicles and hybrids will grow regardless of price changes.
In his opinion, the cost of cars will increase, but, given the advantages of these vehicles, buyers' interest will only increase.
The increase in the recycling fee rate will have a greater impact on mass models. However, despite the annual inflationary increase in car prices and the increase in customs and recycling fees, demand also depends on many other factors.
The overall Russian market is expected to shrink, the expert added, but thanks to the introduction of new technologies and the emergence of new models, the share of hybrid and electric vehicles in the market will increase.
"Gray" work
At the same time, the editor-in-chief of the Russian electric vehicle portal EV-Start Ruslan Tarasov does not expect a significant decrease in demand for electric vehicles and hybrid models. However, he believes that the increase in the recycling fee for these models may lead to the market becoming less transparent.
Official importers will not be able to import cars through gray and black schemes, while unofficial sellers will certainly find ways and schemes to circumvent the increased rates.
For example, they will import cars made to order for a specific client. In this situation, the vehicle is registered to a citizen, and he receives the right to apply the previous preferential recycling fee rates.
Thus, instead of a civilized market for electric cars and hybrids, we, unfortunately, are coming to the realities of the late 90s - early 2000s.
According to Igor Morzharetto, partner of the analytical agency "Autostat", increasing the recycling fee for these models is one way to support domestic producers. However, under such conditions, the production of these models may be unprofitable, the expert believes.
Recall that currently there are more than 59 thousand electric vehicles registered in Russia. In the first half of 2024, more than 10 thousand such cars were sold, which is almost 2.3 times higher than the figures for the same period last year.
Earlier www1.ru reported that by 2030 Russia plans to produce 54.25 thousand units of electric vehicles and hybrids. Thus, production will increase approximately sevenfold.
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