Ukraine boasts equal number of electric cars charging stations as Poland – Electrocars team  

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Kyiv, June 23, 2015. Electrocars team drove 3,000 km as part of the Kyiv- Monte Carlo electric car rally that started on Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv on June 3. The event demonstrated that travelling in electric cars is possible and how the issue of infrastructure is addressed in Europe. Ukraine does not lag behind; conversely, the number of charging stations for electric cars is the same as in, said members of Electrocars team at the press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.

“We return back with confidence that we can become Europe’s leading market for the electric cars,” said Oleksandr Kravtsov, member of Ukrainian Electrocars team.

Electrocars team took third place in the general ranking and was awarded a diploma for the Rivne-Lviv section of the road, as well as a diploma and a medal. “We’ve used Nissan Leaf for a year, it can drive 200 km on a single charge. It is a car one may use daily. We wanted to prove that the vehicle can be also used to cover large distances,” added Andriy Kovalyov, Electrocars team member.

The trip demonstrated that Ukrainians are ready for electric cars, while the officials are not: no financial instrument exists in the country to make electric vehicles affordable for the people. Team members named fuel efficiency as of the chief benefits of electric cars – today the charging stations are free of charge, allowing to save the money; vehicle dynamics on the move; environmentally friendly – electric vehicles do not pollute the environment and motivate to be more attentive to the ecology and way of living.

Electrocars team created a website where it plans to place useful information on the location of charging stations, manuals on how to use them as well as demonstrate to Ukrainians test-drives the capabilities of electric cars. Electrocars team also lobbied for a law on lifting of the customs duty on electric cars; the bill has passed the first hearing. “Ukraine’s parliamentary committee on tax and customs policy considered amendments to the draft bill already. We are currently working with MPs as it depends on them whether this law is to be adopted. We have published an information sheet for MPs, providing social benefits enacted in Norway, the United States, China and the Netherlands and proved that the these payments are needed. They do not have to stay forever, it is only temporarily in order to push development of electric vehicles in Ukraine,” said Oleksiy Martsenyuk.

Last January team members submitted to the Kyiv city council a project of free parking lots equipped with charging stations for electric cars. “I hope after the new year when the bills that reduce tax burden are passed, we will all witness a small Ukrainian miracle for electric cars,” Oleksandr Kravtsov concluded.