Russian Federation urged to return privileges for electric cars on toll roads

Operators of electric vehicle charging stations (EV charging stations) have proposed to return the privilege of free transportation on toll federal highways to owners of imported electric vehicles. The Association of Producers and Operators of Electric Charging Stations (APOE) addressed the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Economy with such an initiative, Kommersant reported on February 24.

The APOE said that operators on toll highway sections have invested more than 600 million rubles in EVs, not counting the costs of creating charging infrastructure on highways for transportation linking populated areas. If the privilege continues to apply only to Russian electric cars, the installation of new charging stations on toll roads will slow down significantly and the return on investment in the already supplied stations will be reduced, the association warned. It will also lead to a decrease in demand for Russian charging products oriented for installation on highways. As a result, the connectivity of cities and regions for electric cars will not be achieved, the APOE believes.

The association proposed to extend the preferential travel for all electric vehicles until 2030 or when the target indicator of the fleet of pure electric vehicles is reached. According to the Concept for the development of electric transport in the Russian Federation, the electric vehicle fleet should number 1.4 million units by 2030. At the same time, the current fleet of electric cars of Russian brands in the country barely exceeds 6 thousand units (17.8 thousand units of all brands according to Avtostat).

Short-circuited: Russians may lose affordable electric cars and hybrids

Utilization fee on "green" car models has increased 20-fold

On February 17, it was reported that the Russian government extended the right of free travel on toll federal highways for electric cars until the end of 2025. However, now the benefit applies only to owners of Russian-built cars. The action started on March 1, 2023, initially the right to free passage on toll sections of federal highways was available to drivers of any all-electric cars.