In Kaliningrad, used cars will be converted into electric cars. The pilot project is launched by Avtotor. About it “Izvestia” said the founder and owner of the holding Vladimir Shcherbakov.
The company will test the technology in the region on its own fleet of vehicles in the spring. According to Shcherbakov, the remotorization will help maintain the operation of Russia’s existing car fleet in the face of the departure of foreign concerns and a shortage of spare parts for its maintenance, but without state support it will be a very expensive project.
“We proposed to the government (and it supports us) to make 150,000 electric motors of various sizes and control systems for them for the entire industry. This is twice as much as the concept of the automotive industry provides. Of course, there will not yet be such a need for new electric vehicles. Therefore, we will produce electrical kits to replace the old internal combustion engine together with the gearbox with a new electric one for cars that are already in operation,” said the owner of the holding.
Such a kit can be installed on the car at any service station. As Vladimir Shcherbakov noted, on average, the service of replacing an internal combustion engine with an electric motor during a mass launch can fit into 1,000 euros.
“Obviously, 80,000 or 100,000 rubles is the cost of just the power unit replacement service itself. You will have to pay for the equipment separately. And given that batteries are one of the most expensive units in the cost of an electric car, this will be a significant amount, ”the founder of Avtotor shared his opinion.
An independent expert told the publication that benefits and state support measures should be worked out for the project, otherwise it will only be a temporary solution to the problem of loading the idle capacities of the plant.
According to auto industry consultant Sergei Burgazliev, an electric motor and a battery can cost from 650,000 to 1 million rubles. It is not clear how the manufacturer will deal with the issue of placing the battery in cars where there is no space for it. The specialist believes that the service will not be in great demand among residents of the Russian Federation in the next two to three years, including due to high tariffs for charging electric cars.