Lukashenko wants serial production of electric vehicles to begin by 1 January 2025
22 January 2024, 14:30
During a tour of BelGee premises Aleksandr Lukashenko was informed about results of the efforts of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the Industry Ministry to design and build an electric vehicle based on a BelGee car. The president also examined development prototypes.
The president drew attention to the timing of launching the production of Belarusian electric cars. He stressed that there is no time to take things slowly and it is necessary to work hard while the global demand for these cars is on the rise.
“How fast can we do it?” the head of state wanted to know. After hearing out explanations of officials, the president set the deadline at the beginning of the next year. “Your job is to complete most of the necessary steps by 1 January 2025,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The goal set by the head of state is rather hard to achieve because the Belarusian electric car was previously supposed to be designed and made in 2021-2025.
Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Piotr Parkhomchik told reporters: “It is a complicated task. The president had given instructions to design and begin production in 2021-2025. But a more ambitious goal was set today. And we will have to create the necessary technological capabilities to make the components electric cars use by 1 January 2025. And we will have to begin serial production of electric cars starting next year.”
This year specialists will have to scale up the production of components for the Belarusian electric car and master some competences, which do not exist for now. For instance, the production of gears for high-speed reduction gearboxes. “We can make gears for BelAZ trucks, MAZ vehicles, other trucks but we cannot make gears for cars,” the deputy prime minister said.
In his words, by the end of the year they will have to create the capacity to make components, make a pilot industrial batch of electric cars, and finish all the processes relating to their certification. “In other words, we will have to confirm the design solutions that have been declared for this car. We will do this work this year,” Piotr Parkhomchik clarified.
Belarusian enterprises are supposed to contribute to the production of the electric car, including Izmeritel Plant and OAO Integral. OAO Mogilevliftmash will make electric motors. At present the company makes drive motors for passenger vehicles and freight vehicles.
The electric vehicle will use the body of the first Belarusian car BelGee X50. BelGee Company is supposed to take care of welding, painting, and other operations the company has already mastered in the course of making conventional cars. It will allow minimizing costs.
The location for the final assembly of the electric vehicle has yet to be determined. “Today I cannot say precisely where we are going to do it but the first prototypes will be assembled at this enterprise [BelGee]. We will wrap up all the matters relating to the tests and will set up another location where the electric car will be made in the future,” Piotr Parkhomchik explained.
Speaking about how much the Belarusian electric car will cost, the deputy prime minister noted they are going to try and offer a competitive price.
“We intend to create the technologies that will allow us to offer a competitive price,” he remarked. The Belarusian car BelGee X50 should be used as a reference point because the electric car will be based on this model. But the final price will be determined later on when the cost of the battery and the cost of other components become clear.
