Trade Ministry supports one-year suspension of electric car import duty
MOSCOW. May 16 (Interfax) - The Russian Industry and Trade Ministry supports a proposal to suspend the import duty on electric cars for one year, the ministry said in a statement.
The position statement follows a meeting the day before, on May 15, between Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Yevtukhov and representatives of automotive importer and retailer Rolf Import LLC and grid operators Federal Grid Co and Moscow United Electric Grid Company (MOESK) .
Temporarily zeroing out the import duty would reduce the cost of electric cars 20%, the participants in the meeting said. The price reduction would boost sales in Russia 10 times, to at least 500 units, they said.
"According to expert projections, the decline in Russian budget revenue from duty-free imports of electric cars will be compensated by the tax revenue generated by the increased number of imported cars and growth of the tax base," the ministry statement said.
The meeting participants also stressed the need to develop the infrastructure that electric cars need.
The only foreign-made electric car officially sanctioned for sale in Russia currently is the Mitsubishi i-Miev. The sticker price for the base model is 1.8 million rubles.
Russian Avtovaz produces a small number of El Lada electric cars priced at 1.2 million rubles. It shipped the first five cars, to Stavropol territory, in January. The territory has ordered a total of 90 of the cars. Avtovaz invested 500 million rubles in the electric car project, which utilizes the Lada Kalina platform. The El Lada weighs 1,200 kg, has a top speed of 130 kph and a range of up to 150 kilometers (city driving). It takes eight hours to fully charge the car's batteries from a standard power outlet.
Renault has also announced plans to sell electric cars in Russia, but company representatives said mass sales would begin no earlier than 2014. It was reported previously that Renault plans to supply 12 electric cars to Russian Post: 10 Kangoo ZE and two Twizy cars.