With the number of electric cars in Ukraine nearly doubling compared to last year, manufacturers of electric chargers see huge potential to expand the range of electric vehicles beyond the limits of the country’s big cities.
But to do that, Ukraine needs the proper infrastructure — affordable electric vehicle charging stations. Sensing profits to be made, charging station manufacturers in Ukraine are ramping up production, and are eyeing not only the domestic market, but the one in the European Union as well. Meanwhile, despite a sluggish start, Ukraine is picking up speed in its development of charging infrastructure.
Olena Isaeva, the head of Elecar, a Ukrainian electric vehicle charging station manufacturer based in Zaporizhzhia, says her company has sold 200 chargers so far this year, and it plans to double production next year.
Elecar is one of only a few local manufacturers. The company was created 13 years ago, initially as an electric panel manufacturer, but now specializes in producing electric vehicle charging stations. By May, the company is planning to produce its own brand of superchargers — chargers that can fully charge a battery in a couple of hours instead of a whole night. Isaeva claims her company’s product will cost half the price of those of their European competitors.
“We sell our regular charger for $2,100 — that’s cheaper than that of our competitors, and the quality is similar,” she says.
These overnight chargers are cheaper, making their products appealing to potential European buyers, Isaeva says.
If this is the case, Ukraine could take advantage of its local producers to expand its electric vehicle infrastructure.
Andriy Voloshenko, director of marketing at VLS Energy, another electric vehicle charger manufacturer, says that Ukraine is slowly adapting to the use of electric cars, but there’s still a long way to go: Kyiv’s infrastructure can’t even meet current demand, he says.
“(VLS Energy) currently has 11 stations in Kyiv, each with two chargers. That means that only 40 cars can charge simultaneously. That’s very little. We need around 100 stations in the city to cover the current demand,” says Voloshenko.
As to superchargers, Ukraine has barely any, with only a few available in Kyiv.
Vadim Voytovich, CEO of TOKA, an electric vehicle charging station company, says that he has two superchargers, with four more coming soon. Even though the company hasn’t broken even, Voytovich says that every year the pay-back period is decreasing.
Altogether, TOKA has 86 regular charging stations in Ukraine, more than half of them in Kyiv, and 28 in Odesa. The company is expanding rapidly and plans to open another 50 stations this year.
TOKA has six stations in Donetsk Oblast and five more in Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk. However, most regional markets are currently out of range for the company, as there are few electric car owners outside of Kyiv. The company is planning to change that situation, and has signed a memo with OKKO, a gas station network, to equip all of OKKO’s 396 gas stations with electric chargers by 2020.
Most of the electric cars bought by Ukrainians are pre-used vehicles. In part, that’s because the official monthly average salary in the country is only $323, while a new electric car costs more than $30,000. The most popular model, the Nissan Leaf, accounts for two-thirds of the market.
At first, TOKA offered its services for free in order to advertise itself and since the business wasn’t profitable at all.
“Now the pay-back period is around three years for a regular charger at a price of around $3,000, and around seven years for a supercharger, which costs ten times more,” Voytovich says.
The long payback period is partly due to Ukraine’s government taking a backseat role in promoting the switch to electric cars.
In contrast, Germany, the third largest European electric car market by volume, is stimulating growth through the government’s National Platform for Electric Mobility. The German scheme provides financial incentives for new electric vehicle projects and tax cuts for both potential electric car owners and the manufacturers of electric vehicle chargers.
Germany has around 13,500 car chargers for 130,000 electric cars across the country, while Ukraine only has slightly more than a thousand chargers, and almost 10,000 electric cars — twice as many as last year.
Ukraine followed Europe’s lead by last year’s waiving of the value-added tax on electric vehicles. However, the tax break needs to be confirmed by parliament on a yearly basis, and players within the industry fear that this year’s vote count may come up short.
Voytovich says the government will have to be more active for the industry to flourish. But even if the tax cut is approved, it will only be beneficial to those who want to buy an electric car. Electric vehicle charger manufacturers still feel that their interests are being neglected, and say they should also get some tax relief: After all, one new charger produces seven potential electric car owners, says Voytovich.
Isaeva agrees, saying that rather than supporting the manufacturers of electric chargers, the government is supporting gas producers and the owners of imported cars by making it cheaper to import old diesel cars from Europe.
And as the Ukrainian electric car charger market is still not very profitable, domestic companies are looking elsewhere. VLS Energy has opened a dealership in Dusseldorf, Germany. Elecar sells its chargers in Poland through an official reseller, while TOKA is waiting for an official license to enter the EU market.
According to Voytovich, TOKA has won multiple grants from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, which gives them the confidence to seek clients in Europe because of the benefits that the European market offers.
Meanwhile, the only way for the market in Ukraine is to move forward, Voytovich is convinced.
“The number of electric cars on the streets is increasing, new dealerships are opening all over the country — this process can’t be stopped,” he said.
