The Ministry of Industry and Trade is ready to cooperate with the founder of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk on electric vehicles, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in an interview with Arguments and Facts.
“If Mr. Musk will interact with us in terms of technology exchange and value creation – why not? We are ready for such cooperation, ”said Manturov. The technologies possessed by Russian manufacturers of electric vehicles do not provide an opportunity to reduce their prices to a level that satisfies the needs of the market, “which is not yet so big in Russia.” If Tesla or other manufacturers decide on larger projects in the field of passenger electric vehicles, it will be necessary to create a charging infrastructure and incentive regulatory mechanisms – “for example, we will discuss and resolve the issue of transport tax,” the minister explained.
He stressed that the main task of the state is to create the added value that remains in the country and localize technologies, however, for a large-scale breakthrough in electric propulsion in Russia, it is necessary that electric vehicles can compete in cost with cars with traditional internal combustion engines. In the near future, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Economic Development will submit to the government a concept for the development of electric transport in Russia for the period up to 2030, which will be aimed at creating a high-tech industry for the production of electric vehicles, Manturov added.
Earlier, Musk, speaking at the All-Russian scientific and educational marathon “New Knowledge”, said that soon Tesla could officially enter the market of Russia and the CIS countries. He also allowed the construction of a plant for the production of electric vehicles on Russian territory. Later, the Ministry of Industry and Trade invited Musk to discuss the construction of a Tesla plant in Russia.
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