The President of Uzbekistan: We need to provide the population with affordable, low-cost, modern electric vehicles

Yesterday, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev got acquainted with the presentation of a project for the development of the electric vehicle industry and expanding the electric vehicle service, reports “Dunyo” IA correspondent.

According to the press service of the Head of our state, the Development Strategy of the country for 2022-2026 defines the goals for the transition to a green economy, including the production of electric vehicles. At the meeting held on February 14 this year, the Head of the state gave specific instructions in this direction.

During today’s presentation, the leadership of Uzavtosanoat JSC provided information on the agreements reached and models, the production of which is planned to be mastered. Issues of establishing the production of electric vehicles, expanding the network of charging stations, and localizing components were discussed.

“Electric vehicles are rapidly becoming part of our daily lives. Imports are growing. Why? Because there is a demand. The costs associated with the operation of such cars are less, and the service is cheaper. Most importantly, our people prefer them. Therefore, we need to provide the population with affordable, low-cost, modern electric vehicles”, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

Indeed, electric vehicles are 10 times cheaper to operate than conventional cars and 3 times less harmful to the environment. The popularity of such vehicles in developed countries is growing.

However, electric vehicles require a certain infrastructure. For example, there is one charging station for every 20 electric vehicles in the world. There are only 50 such stations in Uzbekistan. They are located mainly in Tashkent and Samarkand. There are no service centers for electric vehicles.

“In each of our decisions, we must look not at one year, but decades ahead. Therefore, taking into account the environmental agenda and for the sake of the future, we need to develop this industry now. The sooner we do this, the more competition will appear in the car market”, the President said.

The need for creating a company together with a foreign company with experience in this area and organizing the production of popular electric vehicle models was noted.

The Head of the state paid special attention to ensuring that electric vehicles were affordable. And it depends on the degree of components localization.

So, 30 percent of the cost of an electric car is batteries, and 10 percent is electric transmitters. During the presentation, the possibilities for the production of such parts in Uzbekistan were listed, using the available reserves of lithium, copper, and graphite.

20 electric buses run in Tashkent today. Next year, it is planned to bring another 200 electric buses to the capital and 100 to Samarkand. The President noted the need to start relevant work in other cities.

The issue of expanding the network of service centers for electric vehicles was also raised. The task was set to install two thousand charging stations in parking lots, fuel stations, and highways in the next two years. These stations will benefit from land tax, property, and profit tax relief. Entrepreneurs who own charging stations will be given the right to sell electricity at a free price.

The importance of training specialists for the industry was emphasized. Plans were presented to organize a scientific laboratory for electric vehicles at the Turin Polytechnic University, to improve the qualifications of teachers and specialists in China, Germany, the United States, South Korea, and other countries.