Radio-Electronic Technologies, a company within Rostec, the state corporation for advanced technology, is to start producing high-speed charging stations by the end of the year – cars will be able to restore their charge within half an hour and electric buses within 24 minutes.
The charging devices will be made by the Ryazan State Instrument-making Enterprise. A budget of 300 million roubles ($3.96 million) has been allocated for the project.
The plant will initially produce 20 chargers a month, but has pledged to boost production if required.
The charging stations should remain in operation for 15 years.
The Ryazan company says its charging devices are already in demand throughout Russia, particularly in Moscow and other cities with a population of a million or more.
Rostec forecasts that within five years, about 188,000 electric vehicles will be operating in Russia. The state corporation now has 150 charging stations, but has pledged to expand its network. IT says that in Moscow alone some 400 new electric buses will take to the roads each year and 130 chargers will be needed to service the vehicles.
The time needed to recharge a vehicle is one of the key factors influencing decisions on what type of vehicle is to be purchased – along with the cost of the charger and the frequency with which vehicles need charging or refuelling. But while previously charging required a considerable amount of time, this has now been reduced to half an hour. Experts believe that time will be shortened further and that the number of kilometres an electric vehicle can cover before recharging will increase.
