“Business is partly faith” - Newspaper Kommersant No. 167 (7368) of 09/12/2022

“Business is partly faith” - Newspaper Kommersant No. 167 (7368) of 09/12/2022



Andrey Dubovskov, the former head of MTS and ex-president of AFK Sistema, founded Green Drive a year ago. It is engaged in the construction of a network of filling stations for electric and natural gas vehicles, but so far it is suffering losses. Andrey Dubovskov told Kommersant whether the business would turn a profit and whether state support would help the industry.

— You founded Green Drive in 2021, when the green agenda was widely discussed in Russia. Are you adjusting your plans to reflect the current situation?

“The situation has not changed strategically. Reducing the dependence of mankind on non-renewable resources is not a hype, but a natural course of events. For Russia, the right path in the energy transition of the current stage is the gradual abandonment of liquid hydrocarbons in favor of gaseous ones. The use of compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) seems obvious both from a decarbonization and economic point of view. This is exactly the topic we are dealing with – in particular, we are developing the infrastructure for transport using CNG, LNG and electric charging stations (ECS). Other "energetics" are also in sight: electricity of the post-lithium-ion phase, biogas, solar energy, hydrogen.

— What has been achieved?

- As an employee of a large corporation, I did not have my own businesses, and I spent quite a bit of time in “free swimming”. Nevertheless, during the year we built ten CNG stations in the Rostov, Kursk and Nizhny Novgorod regions, we started building LNG stations, and we are building the first small-scale LNG plant in the Rostov region. All, of course, only on domestic equipment. In terms of infrastructure for electric vehicles: we have 22 fast EZS in the European part of the country - for example, we have completely covered the M4 highway. Aimed at 50 positions by the end of the year.

How much money have you already invested?

- About 2 billion rubles, including in unmentioned, but complementary directions. This is the own funds of shareholders - mine and my minority partners, as well as bank loans and reinvestment of government subsidies received.

- Judging by the reporting, your EZS business is unprofitable.

- Undoubtedly. Not only for me, but for all EZS operators in the country. Now in Russia there are less than 20 thousand electric vehicles, of which two-thirds are concentrated in the Far East. The EZS business will become profitable when there are at least 150,000 electric vehicles in the country. When will it happen? I dont know. Business is partly faith. I believe in making the right investments.

- What about the loading of existing EZS?

- It grows every month. We have recently passed the milestone of 500 MWh from our stations.

— In June, a program to support the construction of EZS was launched. How do you rate it?

- The program is fresh. Not without flaws. First of all, it is not clear why criteria for locations are needed. Now, for example, on the highway, I can put the EZS at the gas station, because there is a toilet and a cafe there. And I can apply for a grant. But I can’t claim it if I put up an EZS near a shopping center on the same highway or in a national park with a developed infrastructure. What's the point?

Another problem is the lack of available power grid capacity where it is needed. To receive a subsidy, it is necessary to install a station from 150 kW, the price for it starts from 3 million rubles. Fulfillment of technical conditions where there is not enough capacity can cost three, five, and more millions. That is, the total cost of installing one EZS can easily reach 8–10 million rubles. The subsidy is about 2.8 million rubles. With the current number and growth rate of electric vehicles in the country, the payback is beyond the horizon.

- What do you suggest?

— Ottyuningovat program in two directions. The first is to cancel or significantly expand the criteria for placing EZS. The second is to adjust subsidies. There is no need to increase them, it is necessary to approach them with precision: for example, to give an additional subsidy to an investor who has to increase the cost of connecting to networks.

— According to the program plans, by the end of the year it is necessary to install 528 EZS in 12 regions. This is real?

- Hardly. Each region has its own situation. Somewhere there are fewer applicants than the amount of subsidies. Somewhere on the contrary, there are many applicants, but we understand that they will not fulfill their obligations: the production capacities of all Russian manufacturers of EZS cannot satisfy the requests for fast stations of all applicants.

— Are the government's plans for the development of electric transport in the country generally feasible?

- At this stage, the entire Russian infrastructure should be doubled or tripled, but no more. Given the prospects for the development of domestic production of electric vehicles and their import, the government program to achieve 15% share of electric vehicles in the total vehicle fleet by 2030 looks generally realistic.

Interviewed by Polina Smertina



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