China-Russia expressway may get EV-charging treatment by major Moscow-based fuel retailer
EuroTrans hopes electric vehicles - most from China - will be able to drive from Moscow to Beijing, but analyst says brutally cold winters could be an issue
A major Russian operator of petrol stations is laying plans to help drivers of electric vehicles cross the vast country into China – without running out of power – and in turn stoke imports of Chinese EVs to Russia.
Moscow-based EuroTrans will bid to install its charging stations along an expressway extension that would span more than half of Asia from west to east and link up with China, according to company vice-chairman Sergei Alekseenkov.
The stations, which would be replete with convenience stores and eventually designed to cut EV charging times to as little as 10 minutes from the more common half hour, should let electric cars travel from 400-600km (249-373 miles) before running out of juice, Alekseenkov said on Thursday on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last year that the existing Moscow-Kazan expressway will eventually be built eastward to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast with a “branch” to China, which has maintained close economic ties with its northern neighbour despite sanctions from the West over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
One of our ideas is to [test drive] electric cars ... from Moscow to Beijing and see how that would work in reality
A EuroTrans spokeswoman said the company expects a “state tender” among Russian firms for the construction of EV charging stations.
