The pace of electric charging station installation in Russia is outpacing the growth of the electric vehicle fleet, Valery Markelov, CEO of Rosatom Charging Station Network, told Kommersant. Amid the fuel crisis and holiday season, demand for charging has sharply increased, confirming that electricity is more profitable than gasoline, but the infrastructure remains idle for now.
In July, the number of charging sessions doubled compared to June, and the operator's customer base has grown by 23% since the beginning of the year, reaching almost 28.6 thousand people. Owners of premium electric vehicles and hybrids began to use them as primary vehicles, and growth in the regions was explosive: fivefold in the Kursk region, sevenfold in the Sverdlovsk region, and four and a half times in the Kaliningrad region.
At the same time, stations remain underutilized – on average 10–12% in Moscow, and 3–5% in the regions. Payback periods range from seven to ten years, mainly due to expensive technological connection. This period can only be reduced to 4–5 years by an increase in the number of electric vehicles, which is hampered by an inflated recycling fee.
The company has already prepared proposals for the State Duma to revise it, as well as to introduce "green" license plates with the right to use dedicated lanes. For now, the market is in an investment phase, where the costs of creating a network outpace its actual utilization.
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