Will an electric vehicles market be formed in Ukraine?
The so-called developed countries always have something to fight for. Now their major goal is the environment, which stimulates the development of new directions in many industries: starting from fashion and ending with waste processing. Purity is the priority everywhere: organic foods, ecologically clean materials, environmentally friendly production facilities and of course ‘green’ cars. Many Ukrainians see this trend as a weird behavior, as we’re very busy just trying to earn living.
This is why the advertising of electric cars with «zero emissions during operation» triggered amazement, and more amazing were the prices. Still fewer believed there would be demand for such cars.
However, three major automakers took a chance and included hybrid cars in their lineup. These were Honda with its CR-Z model, which has been marketed in Ukraine since the middle of last year, and Toyota, which since April of 2010 has been officially delivering Prius hybrid cars. Although ads for Renault electric vehicles are often found in car-oriented publications and a promo Web site with four models – the Fluence Z.E., Kangoo Express Z.E., ZOE Preview and Twizy – is regularly updated, their sales haven’t started in Ukraine yet. The fact is that these models are new for Europeans themselves. In particular, the Fluence Z.E. and Kangoo Express Z.E. were launched only this autumn, while sales of the Twizy are scheduled for the end of this year, and the ZOE Preview will appear next summer. What is more, all of the models will be presented first in France and Israel, and then spread around the world, and, as a customer support operator informed, they will come to Ukraine not earlier than next summer.
Pioneers’ experience shows that sales take time to accelerate. At this stage of the process, automakers expect this. According to Marina Didkivska from Toyota-Ukraine, 46 hybrid cars were sold last year, and this year sales have grown to 75 vehicles. But these figures could have reached record-high levels even for European markets of 2,000 cars per year if officials have kept their word. In particular, this spring the Ministry of Internal Affairs said it would spend part of the funds received by Ukraine from the sale of greenhouse emission quotas under the Kyoto Protocol on buying some patrol cars. To be replaced were «cars that have been in use for a long time and have outlived their usefulness. These are Soviet-era VAZ and UAZ cars, which were bought 20 years ago and which consume 12-17 liters of fuel per 100 km,» the ministry’s press service reported then.
According to its estimates, the ministry has one of the country’s largest car fleets, which now numbers 14,800 vehicles, 30% of which have to be replaced without delay. As the money was allocated under the Kyoto Protocol, they stressed that the obsolete car fleet annually emits more than one hundred thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide, and the load on the environment could be eased through the operation of Toyota Prius hybrid cars. The second advantage of the project is that the consumption of fuel by the ministry would drop by 16,000 tonnes per year. The only disadvantage was that the hybrid vehicle’s price, according to the company’s official Web site, is $35,000-43,000 depending on component kits, while the Interior Ministry hoped to receive about EUR 4-5 million from the budget. Toyota-Ukraine did not comment on the details of communication with the law enforcement agency, but when the budget is going to pieces, it is doubtful that the program will be implemented in the near future. Meanwhile, a significant impact on Europeans’ interest in electric vehicles is being made by governmental programs, and one of the first ones is for state officials to start driving electric cars.
You can read full article in journal «Terminal: Oil Review» №49(583) 28 Nov 2011
