And the number of electric buses will climb to 600 this year and to more than 2,000 by 2023, according to a senior Moscow city official.

“If you include trams, by 2023 nearly 40 % of Moscow’s surface transport fleet will be made up of environmental electric vehicles,” Dmitry Pronin, Deputy Head of the city’s Department of Transport and Development of Transport Infrastructure, told Global Energy.

Moscow, Pronin said, was in step with the world trend of transitioning to environmentally clean transport.

“International companies are forecasting active development of electric transport,” he said. “Bloomberg, for instance, is predicting annual growth of 30 % of electric cars throughout the world. (Consultants) McKinsey is talking about annual growth of 22 % over the next 10 years.”

As in many major cities throughout Europe, Moscow has a programme aimed at stimulating use of “green” cars.

“Electric car owners are already exempt from the transport tax,” Pronin said. “And they can park for free in the city’s carparks.”

The growth in numbers has already produced shortages of charging stations. The city government plans to install a further 200 by the end of the year.

“The charging stations are already in active use,” Pronin said. “Electric car owners are already acutely aware that they are in short supply and are sending requests to expand the network of stations.

“So we see little risk of carparks for electric vehicles standing empty,”