Atom EV line to include Duo, Family models, taxi and delivery versions - Tatarstan authorities

KAZAN. March 6 (Interfax) - Kamaz is working to create an Atom electric vehicle line that will include two basic models with versions for taxi and delivery, the Tatarstan branch of the Russian Ministry of Digital Development said in a statement following Minister Airat Khairullin's meeting with representatives from the Kama company developing the vehicle.

"The plan is for the Atom product line to include the Duo and Family models, as well as versions for taxi and delivery. The EVs will have a range of up to 500 kilometers and a maximum speed of 170 kilometers per hour," the statement said.

The vehicles' stated energy efficiency is 0.14 kW/km.

"The Atom functional prototypes will be presented in the third quarter of 2023, but sales will start a little later - in about 2025," the statement said.

Atom's team numbers over 300 engineers, designers and IT developers. The company is headquartered in Naberezhnye Chelny (Tatarstan) and has offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Togliatti, and in China (Nanjing).

Kama was incorporated in August 2021 with an authorized capital of 720,000 rubles. Its CEO is a former Kamaz manager in charge of promising projects, Igor Povarazdnyuk. In November 2022, it was reported that the start-up's participants were Kamaz CEO Sergei Kogogin and businessman Ruben Vardanyan.

Kamaz plans to create an Atom prototype by May 2023.

Kamaz expects its revenues from sales in its non-core light-vehicle segment to total 350 billion rubles by 2030, including 200 billion rubles from sales of Atom EVs, Kogogin told the Naberezhnye Chelny city council in February.

Kamaz specializes in manufacturing trucks with a gross weight of 14-40 tonnes and does not make light vehicles. Under an agreement with the Moscow government, the auto maker acts as a technological partner for the city's Moskvich plant (formerly Renault Russia, before Renault's exit from Russia) which last November launched a SKD assembly of cars under the Moskvich brand. Two Moskvich models, according to their VTA (vehicle type approval), are based on the Chinese JAC.

In December 2022 Kogogin unveiled Kamaz plans to form a light vehicles division unconsolidated with the company's core business. Its concept is due to be approved in June.