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A new technological market is emerging in Tatarstan — charging stations for electric vehicles. Interest in it from investors increased after the republic adopted a program for the development of charging infrastructure. It is also stimulated by federal subsidies allocated for the installation of domestic charging stations. 

By 2024, a network of at least 183 electric charging stations (ECS) will appear in Tatarstan, follows by the charging infrastructure development program for 2022-2024. 95 new ECS will be introduced this year thanks to federal funding: the republic has become one of eight pilot regions that received a subsidy from the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation for the development of infrastructure for charging stations. The Government of the Russian Federation compensates the regional ECS operator for 60% of investments for the installation of a domestic station and 30% for technical connection. 

According to the 2charges Platform, which unites the owners of electric cars in Russia, today 88 ECS are already operating in Tatarstan, and the number of electric cars, according to experts, is already approaching a thousand. 

Tatarstan lags behind Moscow and St. Petersburg 

There are 4,364 stations in Russia, including 3,679 slow and 688 fast ones. The average charging session time on slow connectors is 1.36 hours and on fast connectors - 54.3 minutes. 

The most developed electric charging infrastructure is deployed in Moscow and the Moscow region. In terms of the number of slow charging stations among the regions, according to 2charges, the Moscow Region, Moscow, and the Krasnodar Territory are leading. 

Top cities in Russia by the number of slow EZS

1 Moscow region 630

2 Moscow 360

3 Krasnodar Territory 220

4 Irkutsk region 135

5 Tyumen Region 117

6 Leningrad Region 101

7 Novosibirsk Region 92

8 Primorsky Krai 91

9 St. Petersburg 87

10 Krasnoyarsk Territory 74

 

Top cities in Russia by the number of fast EZS

Fast charging is most in Moscow, Krasnodar, and Primorsky regions. 

1 Moscow 68

2 Krasnodar Territory 51

3 Primorsky Krai 45

4 St. Petersburg 43 5 Khabarovsk Territory 39

6 Tatarstan 34

7 Moscow Region 31

8 Irkutsk Region 31

9 Perm Region 30

10 Sverdlovsk region 24 

Zelenodolsky district is the cradle of charging stations manufacturers
 
The production of charging stations for electric vehicles in Tatarstan is carried out by two companies under the brands Non-stop Power (NSP) and E-PROM. 

NSP manufactures charging stations on the basis of Zelenodolsk Electrotechnical Plant LLC (ZEP), the main owner of which is Energy Development Management LLC, controlled by Ilshat Fardiev. The price of a slow charging station in NSP starts from 60 thousand rubles. The price of the fast varies from 1.3 to 3.3 million rubles. ZEP has already installed more than 35 fast charging stations in Tatarstan with a capacity of 60 to 180 kW and more than 20 fast stations with a capacity of 60 to 100 kW throughout Russia, said Nail Galimov, director of ZEP. The revenue of ZEP in 2021, according to SPARK-Interfax, amounted to 894.9 million rubles, net profit - 26.05 million rubles.

The second manufacturer, Promenergo LLC, owned by Fannur Nidiatov, makes E-PROM charging stations in the Zelenodolsk region of priority socio-economic development. The production capacity is 180 fast charging stations per year and 1200 slow charging stations per year. As of today, as Sergey Afonin, General Director of the company, said, Promenergo has produced more than 50 EСS. According to SPARK-Interfax, the company's revenue in 2021 amounted to 1.06 billion rubles, net profit was 143.9 million rubles. 

In addition to Tatarstan manufacturers, stations with a high degree of localization in Russia are produced by five more manufacturers: LLC Parus Electro (Moscow), JSC GRPZ, Fora brand (Ryazan, Concern Radioelectronic Technologies (KRET) of the state corporation Rostec), LLC Jupiter, Yablochkov brand (St. Petersburg), ZNGA Anod LLC (Perm, a subsidiary of the PSS plant) and NPP Energia (Moscow). 

Competition in the market is gaining momentum 

Electrifly, a resident of the Innopolis Special Economic Zone, was one of the first to enter the Tatarstan market in 2017. The company does not have its own charging stations, it operates as a provider, providing charging owners with software to monetize their infrastructure. Today, Electifly LLC manages about 300 stations throughout Russia, of which about 20 are in Kazan. 

The largest player in this market is Grid Company( Setevaya Company). The first two stations have already appeared in Nizhnekamsk and one each in Nurlat and Chistopol. 46 ECS will appear in Kazan, 10 each in Almetyevsk and Nizhnekamsk, 16 in Naberezhnye Chelny, and 10 each along federal and regional highways. Investments in the project are estimated at 300 million rubles. The cost of charging an electric car at new stations can be up to 15 rubles per kWh. 

The developer UD Group, which is developing its own network of Greengy electric charging stations, is also showing interest in the market. Today, the network has four ECS  in Kazan.ECS Greengy works on the basis of software developed by the St. Petersburg company Touch. UD Group plans to place ECS in 40 locations in Tatarstan, primarily in public parking lots of the city, including shopping and business centers, and in the next 10 years to place at least 300 ECS throughout Russia. 

Tatneft also has its own fast ECS (about 15 pieces). But for an oil company, this is more of an image direction: you can charge an electric car at Tatneft for free. Another seven stations in Kazan were installed by the federal operator Punkt-E, present today in 11 regions of Russia and managing a network of 86 ECS. 

Also in Kazan there are stations of the St. Petersburg operators of charging stations Touch (manages a large network of 350 ECS in the Russian Federation) and Portal Energy ( 57 ECS in the country). Today, you can also charge an electric car through mobile applications of Tatarstan manufacturers of chargers - NSP and E-PROM. 

This is a new complex market, with new technologies and business processes 

 Ilshat Fardiyev, General Director of Grid Company:

Last year, Grid Company, as part of the planned renewal of the fleet, purchased 13 electric vehicles of the Chinese JAC brand for its own needs and built ECS in each of its branches. From our own experience, we are convinced that it is more profitable to use electric transport than gasoline. A full charge of an electric car is enough for 180 km in winter, and in summer the distance can increase up to 250 km. Electric vehicles are the future. The experience of operating ECS in our own branches has proved to us that this can be a good business. 

All new ECS of our network will be exclusively Russian-made. The stations will fully comply with the technical requirements approved by the order of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation dated April 29, 2022 No. 1776. For example, they will immediately be equipped with three types of connectors - not only the most common Japanese CHAdeMO and CCS2 (for European models) in the country but also the “Chinese” GB / T, which in the near future may become the main one for new electric vehicles in Russia. 

Nail Galimov Director of Zelenodolsk Electrotechnical Plant LLC: Zelenodolsk Electrotechnical Plant opened in 2019 and began production of low and medium-voltage electrical equipment using Smart technologies for energy facilities. 

At the beginning of 2020, the decision was made to start the production of fast charging stations for electric vehicles. We came to this decision after a lot of analytical work. We studied the market and realized that at that time this niche in the Russian Federation was free. Yes, charging stations were installed in the country, but there were very few of them and they were foreign-made, and there were even fewer fast charging stations. 

Having studied the experience of foreign manufacturers, we launched the production of charging stations at the plant's own facilities. Within two years, our team has doubled in size. A new direction has been opened - the NSP service management department, which is engaged in technical support for users, monitoring, maintenance, and adjustment of charging stations. 

For two years, we have been working on the localization of the production of the main components of charging stations. And today our charging stations consist of 80% of the components of a domestic manufacturer. 

In addition to the equipment itself, an important component of the product is software - this is the integration of charging stations into one single network. It allows you to monitor all charging stations and has a WEB interface and a mobile application. NSP today is a finished product with its own software. 

Today we have installed more than 35 units of fast charging stations in Tatarstan with a capacity of 60 to 180 kW, and more than 20 units of fast stations with a capacity of 60 to 100 kW throughout Russia. 

The departure of foreign companies has freed up a place in the market for the domestic manufacturer. This is confirmed by the growth of Russian manufacturers in 2022.  

Sergey Afonin Director of Promenergo LLC:

In 2020, after analyzing the needs of the market, we developed and manufactured the first experimental charging station with one fast and one slow charging port. By the end of 2022, we have already produced more than 50 electric charging stations. 

We plan to participate in the federal program for the development of charging infrastructure and count on government assistance. Of course, this program is a great support for any manufacturer, because major federal and regional projects are the driving force behind the development of advanced technologies around the world. 

Sanctions, of course, have affected this market. The situation is, as they say, “like everyone else”, with its own difficulties and opportunities. The plans include an increase in the localization of production in terms of individual components of products and the development of R&D. 

Efim Klimov General Director of the Etton group of companies 

Charging stations remain one of the problems for owners of electric cars today. Leaving Kazan, you have to carefully plan your trip around the country. In this regard, all possible IT services, and data analysis tools are a serious helper on the road. 

We have developed a mobile application for the Tatarstan manufacturer of chargers "Promenergo" - E-PROM. Today it is available for download in the AppStore, and Google Play Market, and is distributed free of charge. We have ideas on how to modernize and develop the application and use artificial intelligence algorithms so that the owner of the electric car gets the maximum of services on one screen. 

Though sanctions affected the electric car market, it continues to develop at a moderate pace. 

The majority of electric vehicles in Tatarstan are represented by the budget Nissan Leaf, while premium models - Tesla, Porshe Taycan - are rare. Economy class models are inexpensive, allowing owners to save on gasoline and consumables (oil, candles, filters). Moreover, today electric cars are especially beneficial for residents of the suburbs, that is, those who live near Kazan, but pay a tariff at reduced rural standards. 

Lenar Kashapov General Director of LLC “Electrifly” 

Everyone is trying to work in this market, without really understanding it. A special boom happened when the state began to subsidize the installation of domestic charging stations. The picture looks beautiful: “Now I will have my own Lukoil or my own Tatneft here”. In fact, everything is different here. It doesn't work like with gasoline. If the most important thing in gasoline is the quality of gasoline, here it is necessary to ensure the interaction of the electric vehicle software with the station software. As a rule, there are conflicts here, and therefore 80% of the charging stations installed under the state program work every other time. 

An electric car without software is a brick, you can't do anything with it. And the same charging station. It may or may not charge. If it breaks, you can't run it without software. And it breaks often.

Electric cars come from different continents - from China, Japan, America, and Europe. Everywhere electricity is different. Each manufacturer has different batteries and different systems. Therefore, when an American Tesla comes to charge, it may have problems with a domestic charging station. 

We usually contact the manufacturer of the charging station and send him the logs that the car showed when charging, he fixes it in his software, remotely sends a new firmware to the station, and then the station can already charge. 

This is a new complex market, with new technologies, business processes, and business models. Today Tatarstan is a leading region. There are regions where there is not a single charging station, and we already have two manufacturers. 

Of course, the owners of the stations also have problems with payback. If earlier they counted on an increase in the fleet of electric vehicles, because six brands promised to enter the Russian market this year, then after February 24, 2022, all plans collapsed. It is not clear how to recoup already installed charges. 

Roman Tyukalov CEO Greengy: 

The network of Greengy electric charging stations was created by the UD Group to solve the problem of the underdevelopment of the electric mobility infrastructure. At the moment, refueling electric vehicles can be a real headache for its owners. We aim to evenly cover the road networks of Russian cities with charging stations. 

The active use of the first electric chargers not only showed us the demand for this product but also prompted us to decide to combine the existing ECS into a single network under the Greengy brand. 

Our project has two directions. The first closes the need for electric vehicle owners to emergency charging of their vehicles. Electric Charging Stations, located in a convenient place, will not be left without a vehicle if the driver could not calculate the required charge reserve. Everything is simple here: the user connects and pays for a charging session of 15 rubles per 1 kW of consumed electrical energy through a modern mobile application. 

The second direction was created to regularly provide the owners of electric vehicles with the necessary resources - near their homes and parking lots. Greengy will provide an opportunity to take a charging station for individual use on a "subscription". This is suitable for those living in both apartment buildings and private houses. I’ll make a reservation right away that this method is implemented only if there is a technical possibility: permitted power, or permission from the management company. 

If the key goal of the "Grid Company" is to "close" all routes so that the distance between gas stations does not exceed 140 km, then our priority is to cover urban locations. Grid Company has a plan for the development of infrastructure between cities, and as they progress, we can adjust our roadmap if necessary. 

Rustem Galimzyanov, representative of the non-profit organization for the development of electric vehicle infrastructure "Restart":

According to the official data of the traffic police in the Republic of Tatarstan, at the beginning of January 2021, 80 electric vehicles were registered in Tatarstan, in January 2022 - already 304. Almost 4 times growth over the year. According to our estimates, if this year the number of cars also grows by 4 times, then Tatarstan will approach the fleet of a thousand electric cars. This year, a lot began to be brought through Kazakhstan from China. Previously, all deliveries were mainly from the American and European markets through Belarus. 

Today Tatarstan is one of eight pilot regions that have received subsidies from the Russian Ministry of Economic Development for the installation of Russian charging stations. Initially, we had a quota of about 220 charges, but then we cut it down to 95. Four of the 95 charging stations are already operating in Chistopol, Nurlat, and Nizhnekamsk. 

In early October, the Cabinet of Ministers of Tatarstan issued a decree requiring developers to allocate at least 5 percent of parking spaces for electric vehicles when designing residential complexes. We, as an NGO, are currently working with various developers who are building residential complexes, advising on what equipment is better to choose and where to place the station. 

Our NGO is actively engaged in the popularization of this direction, together with our partners, a laboratory was organized at the department at the Kazan State Power Engineering University with practical exhibits for personnel training. On September 9, on World Electric Transport Day, we held the Electromobility Festival in the Uram Extreme Park. 

People today need to be told about the advantages of this type of transport: parking is free, travel costs are 10 times cheaper compared to internal combustion engines. And cars are not more expensive, this is also a myth. A decent "folk" Nissan Leaf can be bought for 900 thousand rubles. Tesla Model 3 - for 3 million. A wide range of models represents the Chinese auto industry, for every taste and budget. Each manufacturer in the line now necessarily has a model with an electric motor. Volvo generally announced that it will stop producing cars with internal combustion engines from 2025. 

Iya Gordeeva Chairman of the Association for the Development of Electric: Unmanned and Connected Transport and Infrastructure (AETI) Sanctions have certainly affected the market for electric charging stations. Mostly all European suppliers of charging equipment left it - these are ABB, Schneider, Kostad, and some other European brands. But due to a fairly large market and the implementation of the federal program to create a charging infrastructure, we have a fairly large number of Russian-made players - these are Parus Electro, PermSnabSbyt, NSP, and Promenergo, which already have more than assembly plants, and production from Russian components with certificates from the Ministry of Industry and Trade that these stations meet all the requirements for the “Russianness” of this equipment. 

To date, several strong players are emerging in the ECS market in Russia - these are the network organizations Rosseti, Roshydro, and Grid Company, and private companies Green Drive, Punkt-E, and EV-Time, which install the infrastructure at their own expense. There are also companies that integrate this infrastructure. I am absolutely sure that in the next two or three years there can be no question of any monopoly. And in the future, as a rule, there will be an enlargement of players in the market. It was the same with telecom operators. I think that in the future there will be four or five major players in the Russian market.

Source: https://ud-group.com/press/about/komu-prinadlezhit-rynok-elektrozapravok-tatarstana-setevaya-kompaniya-ud-group-ili-rezident-innopoli/?ysclid=li4cgdwih6817140626