Barriers open in front of electric vehicles – Newspaper Kommersant No. 30 (7475) dated 02/17/2023

From March 1, Kommersant learned, owners of electric vehicles will be able to use toll roads for free – the corresponding decision was made by the White House. The experiment will last until the end of the year and will only affect travel on federal highways (M-11, Central Ring Road, etc.). Car owners will receive such a right after they purchase or rent a contactless transponder from Avtodor. The state company has already warned: citizens who try to drive with such a device in a regular car (not an electric car) will be debited from their account, and the transponder will be taken away.

On behalf of First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov, the Ministry of Economy, together with the state company Avtodor, is launching an experiment on March 1 that allows owners of electric vehicles to drive free of charge on toll federal highways. To do this, you need to purchase for 3-3.5 thousand rubles. or rent a T-pass contactless transponder by contacting the support office of Avtodor-Toll Roads LLC (a subsidiary of the Avtodor state company). Documents will be required confirming that the vehicle is equipped exclusively with an electric motor (STS, PTS), explained Deputy Economy Minister Maxim Kolesnikov. If the car owner already has a T-pass, it just needs to be presented to the office.

Users of electric vehicles will be allowed free passage along the toll highways of Avtodor (M-1, M-3, M-4, M-11, M-12, Central Ring Road), as well as along the M-11 section 15–58 km (operator — North-Western Concession Company; SZKK) and Odintsovo bypass (operated by New Quality Roads LLC). The state-owned company compensates the last two for the shortfall in income. The owners of electrical equipment, calculated in the Ministry of Economy, will be able to save an average of 2 thousand rubles. when traveling on a working day from Moscow to St. Petersburg along the M-11 and 1.92 thousand rubles from the capital to Rostov-on-Don along the M-4. On the Western High-Speed ​​Diameter in St. Petersburg, on toll roads in the Pskov region and other regional routes, such a transponder will not work.

If you try to use the device on another car, the full fare will be written off from the personal account (linked to the transponder), and the transponder itself will be disconnected from the campaign without the possibility of re-participation in it, said Konstantin Makiyev, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Avtodor. “The system monitors this automatically,” the state-owned company explained to Kommersant. “An additional check is carried out by financial controllers.”

The pilot is being carried out as part of the 2021 government concept for the development of production and the use of electric motor vehicles in the Russian Federation until 2030. After the experiment is completed (if it is recognized as successful), the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance will prepare amendments to the law “On Highways”, allowing free travel for electric vehicles on all toll roads. According to the concept, we recall that by 2030 at least 10% of all cars produced in the Russian Federation will be electric.

“The measure will create additional benefits for owners of electric cars,” Dmitry Pronin, general director of the Moskvich automobile plant, told Kommersant. “Free travel on toll roads will have a positive impact on stimulating demand and developing the electric car market as a whole.” He recalled that in December 2022, the SKD assembly of the Moskvich 3e electric model had already begun at the plant. In parallel with this, Mr. Pronin noted, a universal platform for a Russian electric car is being developed (we recall that the Moskvich produced today is a variant of the Chinese JAC JS4). “In 2023, we plan to produce 10,000 electric vehicles, in 2024 — 20,000, and in 2025 — 25,000,” said Dmitry Pronin. “We welcome any initiatives that can give users of electric vehicles more benefits and additional savings,” the Evolute press service told Kommersant. “Government support is necessary for an integrated approach in the transition from a car to an internal combustion engine to electric transport.”

The NWCC also supported the action. “While we cannot single out and calculate the flow of electric vehicles on our road, we see only arrivals at electric filling stations,” the NWCC explained. “There are no queues there yet, but traffic from electric vehicles is growing.” The company expects that it will grow towards the airport due to the fact that taxi aggregators have already announced plans to purchase several thousand electric vehicles for their services. Earlier it became known that “Yandex.Taxi” (serves Sheremetyevo) buys electric “Moskvich” and Evolute.

Free travel is of interest to “electric vehicle enthusiasts” who already travel from the region to Moscow to work, but this is unlikely to create additional interest in buying such a car, says Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem. As long as the difference in price between a car with an internal combustion engine and an electric one exceeds 20-30%, no transport benefits will be able to cover it, the expert believes. He cites Moskvich as an example: the regular version costs from 2 million rubles, the electric version costs 3.5 million rubles. “When the difference is within 10%, additional preferences will push people to buy an electric car,” Maxim Kadakov predicts. “And at current prices, taking into account the still undeveloped charging infrastructure, buying an electric car is not practical for an ordinary motorist.” He is supported by the vice-president of the National Automobile Union Anton Shaparin. “The new benefit will not be an incentive to buy electric vehicles, especially since there is still little charging infrastructure along toll roads. And the one that is, charges slowly,” he says. “The electric car remains a toy for ultra-rich people who charge it at home and travel in ordinary cars.”

Ivan Buranov