By 2030, they want to install 18 thousand charging stations for electric vehicles in Moscow

By 2030, the number of electric vehicles in Moscow will reach 315 thousand, or 6.8% of the passenger car fleet, after which it will begin to “independently grow.” Such forecasts were published in the capital’s Department of Transport, where they want to install 12.6 thousand powerful charging stations on city roads, in shopping centers, in local areas and in garages by this date. The mayor’s office hopes, by amending the city’s urban planning regulations, to oblige developers to install another 5.5 thousand chargers in parking lots inside residential buildings. However, officials themselves doubt the reality of the plans, pointing to the high cost of electric vehicles in the Russian Federation, the need to convert 60 thousand city taxis to electric power and to amend 107 federal documents for the development of charging infrastructure in cities.

Deputy Head of the Moscow Department of Transport Alexey Mityaev spoke about plans for the development of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles at a hearing in the Moscow City Duma. From his report it followed that there are now about 5 thousand passenger electric vehicles and 220 urban charging stations (ECS) in Moscow, and by the end of the year their number will respectively be about 8 thousand and 350 CPS. According to calculations by the Moscow Department of Transport and Moskomarkhitektura, by 2025 there should be 63.7 thousand electric vehicles in the city, by 2027 – 125.4 thousand, and by 2030 – about 315 thousand, or 6.8% of the passenger car fleet. By this time, officials believe, there will be a total of 4.6 million passenger cars in the capital (currently 4 million). Mr. Mityaev referred to the experience of the EU and China: “When the figure of 5% of electric transport is reached, independent active growth occurs. The task of the city and the country is to support it as much as possible and bring this share to 5%.”

The mayor’s office plans to support electric transport by developing infrastructure. So, in 2021, the capital’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin allocated 130 million rubles. for the installation of 50 EPS (power 50 kW). Now the Department of Transport expects to install 12.6 thousand fast (with a power of 150 kW) and medium-fast (with a power of 50–60 kW) chargers in the city by 2030. To do this, according to officials, it is worth installing 1.75 thousand fast electric charging stations on the streets (200 charges annually), 2 thousand such devices in local areas in residential complexes and another 189 fast stations on outbound highways. According to Mr. Mityaev, such power (up to 150 kW) is needed so that charging takes no more than 15 minutes, “while you are buying groceries or getting coffee.” The department also considers it necessary to install 6 thousand medium-fast electric filling stations in garage complexes by 2030, install 720 devices at shopping centers, restaurants, offices and other “on-site” parking lots, and another 356 stations in “multifunctional public centers.” Finally, another 5.5 thousand of the simplest and slowest electric power stations (with a capacity of 11 to 22 kW) should appear in parking lots inside apartment buildings.

The department’s presentation materials state that equipping garages, “on-site” parking lots and new buildings with charging stations should be funded by private funds. The city, however, is ready to participate in the purchase of fast chargers for existing residential complexes. The Moscow Department of Transport made it clear that they are preparing changes to Moscow government decree 945-PP (which approves urban planning standards), obliging developers to equip 10% of the spaces in parking lots under construction with 11–22 kW electric filling stations. It is not explained in the department’s materials what kind of document will oblige the installation of fast stations in local areas. But it is said that the developer will place 1-2 electric filling stations there.

In turn, the Moskomarkhitektura proposes to introduce into Resolution 945-PP standards for the provision of charging stations on the road network, transport hubs and intra-block passages, expecting to monitor their implementation “at the stage of developing project documentation.” In the future, the department believes, adjustments can be made to the federal Sanitary Regulations and GOSTs, which the Moskomarkhitektura is doing together with the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation. Mr. Mityaev promised the developers, as a carrot, laying the necessary cable channels during the reconstruction of city streets and installing transformer stations with the expectation of electric power stations – “this will significantly reduce the cost of their connection.” Now the official estimated the cost of “connection” at 5–7 million rubles, wanting to reduce the figure to “several thousand.”

Moscow City Duma Speaker Alexey Shaposhnikov asked whether the previously published figure of 1 million electric vehicles in Moscow by 2035 is realistic. “Statistics show that we will most likely reach this figure,” Mr. Mityaev assured him. The official hopes that this will be facilitated by the development of the automotive industry in the Russian Federation, the emergence of domestic electric batteries for cars and the transition to electric power for car sharing and taxi services.

However, officials themselves doubt the reality of the plans. Deputy Chairman of the Moskomarkhitektura Sergei Kostin complained about the current average price of an electric car in the Russian Federation at 3 million rubles. (for example, Moskvich 3e is sold for 3.3 million rubles). “We need a car with different cost parameters,” he believes. To develop charging infrastructure in cities, 107 federal documents need to be changed, the official added, clarifying that 42 documents are currently being worked on with the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation. As an example, he cited parking spaces, which, according to standards for electric vehicles, should be 50% larger, and the impossibility of installing an electric charging station “below the minus first floor.” According to current standards, in order to place “chargers” in their complexes, developers must “develop special technical conditions,” which Mr. Kostin called “a feeding trough for fire services.” The official also considered the conversion of 60 thousand city taxis to electric power a problem, clarifying that they are now parked in courtyards. True, the Moskomarkhitektura has already found “130–140 sites” with the aim of making “something like charging hubs” there. Sergei Kostin also mentioned local areas, saying that it is “not so expensive” to connect electric charging stations to substations (there are one for every 5-6 houses), “but the problem arises of how to administer these charging places, taking into account our occupancy of yards.”

Alexander Voronov