AvtoVAZ has experience in creating electric vehicles. In the next decade, a partial transition of large Russian agglomerations to such types of transport is possible, but the whole of Russia will not be able to switch to electric vehicles due to the climatic conditions of the country. Therefore, the priority for now is the production of cars with internal combustion.
Maxim Sokolov, president of AvtoVAZ JSC, stated this at the Eastern Economic Forum, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Sokolov touched upon the topic of existing difficulties with the transition to more environmentally friendly types of fuel, and also said that AvtoVAZ, in parallel with the classic internal combustion engine, will try to develop alternative vehicles, with new types of fuel for them.
“Of course, AvtoVAZ has such experience, but the transition to electric vehicles and the expectation of this speedy and rapid large-scale transition have, nevertheless, been somewhat delayed.
But as an example: the transition from horse traction to the internal combustion engine at the beginning of the last 20th century occurred literally in 10 years, during the 1910-1920s. Here we all cannot yet switch to an electric car, and, probably, the diversity of our country and its climatic zones is just clear confirmation that this will probably not happen everywhere and quickly.
Yes, in the largest agglomerations, in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volga, Southern Krasnodar-Rostov - such a transition, or at least a large share of electric vehicles, can be achieved in the coming decades.
But so far, even despite examples of technology development in the field of energy conservation, we still see that in winter conditions the battery capacity is greatly reduced. There it’s 20 percent, and in some places maybe even more. If we say that the battery energy is used for heating, then the daily mileage is reduced by up to 50%.
Therefore, probably, if we look at the map of our country, at its climatic zones, still, most likely, this will not happen everywhere. Although a trend, including an international one, exists, and the Russian market will follow these trends.
At the same time, we can fully use the God-given natural resources that our country has. I'm not even talking about oil. After all, we are also among the ten largest mining countries there. But, first of all, about gas. Because about 80 countries in the world actively use gas as fuel for internal combustion engines. In general, this is a more environmentally friendly fuel, which also corresponds to modern trends.
Therefore, I believe that the development of gas vehicles, at least commercial gas vehicles, is quite promising, and there are examples of this in our practice. Yes, of course, as in terms of electric propulsion and electric traction, there is not enough infrastructure. And often it is precisely this that is the limiter in the development of gas engine fuel,” Sokolov said.
However, he emphasized that this issue can still be resolved if the energy of government support programs is directed there.
“Therefore, nevertheless, in the near period of strategic planning, at least until 2030, today the methodology for building a strategy, as a rule, is limited to a maximum of 10 years. We can say that the internal combustion engine for Russia and the Russian market will remain the main one, from our point of view, but at the same time those technologies will also develop; we have not yet spoken about the fashionable today, and not only today, topic of hydrogen and hydrogen fuel and hydrogen cars . By the way, AvtoVAZ also has such an example. So, accordingly, all other technologies will also develop, but as accompanying ones,” added the president of AvtoVAZ.