Recall an important event of recent days – the management of AVTOVAZ has announced that the production of Lada Vesta will be moved from Izhevsk to Tolyatti, and in the facilities of the abandoned enterprise they will produce spare parts for Lada models and develop a promising model – electric Largus in commercial and passenger versions.
Everything does not seem to be bad, but will such a car be in demand among the Russians, even if we are talking about a very popular model? On this topic, “Za Rulem” together with the analysis agency “Avtostat” conducted a survey and received the following results.
Definitely only supported the novelty 5% our readers. eight% also “for”, but they believe that such an electric car is more suitable for commercial transport.
The price is important here (and it’s not there yet), the rest we can talk about later, noted 24% respondents. And finally 63% they do not believe in the prospects of e-Largus in the Russian market. For various reasons.
Expert opinion
Azat Timerkhanovhead of the press service of the agency “Avtostat”:
– In my opinion, in Russia there is still more informational noise around the topic of electric vehicles than actual deeds. You often hear about the intentions and plans for the production of electric cars by a particular company, but the results of the survey speak for themselves: more than 60% of respondents are skeptical about the prospects of the electric Largus, and about one in the four believe they are completely dependent on the cost of the novelty.
And I’m pretty sure if you replace Largus with another model in this study, the results will be the same. Our people are not yet ready to buy electric vehicles, especially in the current circumstances. They cost more than a conventional car with an internal combustion engine, and their price is unlikely to be lower, as the prices for cars themselves have flown into space …
But this does not mean that you can put an end to the topic of electric vehicles. Anyway, I think the number of people who want to try what it is will grow over time. The more information there is about electric cars, the stronger the motivation to buy them will be. You can’t fool human nature. And I mean those people who have free money and who are willing to buy electric vehicles, for example as a second car for a family. And of course we don’t forget the development of infrastructure, but these are questions for the state and business.
Nikita Gudkovydeputy editor-in-chief of the magazine “Behind the wheel”:
— Our readers’ mental health pleases: Nearly two-thirds say “no” to electric vehicles. This means that people live in the real world, in the real Russia, where it is cold in winter and the distances are great. Where there are sometimes problems with filling stations on national roads, let alone charging stations for electric trains.
Of course, electric vans also have their own niche – for example as “last mile” transport to deliver goods somewhere in pedestrian areas or in nature reserves. This is where the electric Largus finds its customers – but these are hundreds and at best thousands of cars per year. But I don’t see an organic, natural demand for tens of thousands of electric vehicles.
And we haven’t even talked about the price yet. In all countries, without exception, where electric vehicles have gained at least some popularity, this has happened thanks to state aid – in the form of direct and indirect subsidies, tax incentives, some kind of “bonus” such as free parking, and so on. By themselves, the “trains” are still too expensive and “on a circle” do not bring people significant savings. Why politicians are pushing the transition to electric transport is a separate and big question.
Perhaps if the state subsidizes the price of an electric Largus at the level of gasoline, the demand will be higher. You just need to understand that we pay the difference all together. It seems to me that this money of ours could be put to better use – to build the same roads, for example.