Ukraine electric car sales boom
Driving an electric car in a country with a crippled energy system may not seem like a wise choice. But Ukrainians are not shying away. Electric vehicle sales in Ukraine have gone up from 15,900 in 2021, to over 54,000 in the first eight months of this year.
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00:00Driving an electric car in a country with a crippled energy system may not seem like a wise choice, but people here are not shying away.
00:11Electric vehicle sales in Ukraine have gone up from 15,900 in 2021 to over 54,000 in the first eight months of this year.
00:23Andriy bought his first EV in 2022 when the conflict with Russia began.
00:28Two and a half years ago, when Russia attacks the Ukraine with the missiles, we started experiencing issues with the fuel.
00:35Long lines formed outside gas stations. Now, after Russian attacks on the energy grid, electricity and a stable power supply have become an issue.
00:45As the cold winter months approach, scheduled power cuts are set to begin again. But EV sales have yet to drop.
00:54August saw the highest number of electric car sales ever in Ukraine, 9,400 compared to the 5,600 in August of last year.
01:05Andriy says he'll plan ahead and charge his car according to the blackout schedule. And he says owning an EV is still a cheaper alternative.
01:15To top up my fuel tank in my truck cost me about 5,000 hryvnias per tank. And to charge this car is like 150.
01:27Analysts say another reason driving up sales are cheap import taxes.
01:32We understand that the import of an ordinary car will cost about 30 to 40 percent more compared to the cost of importing EVs into Ukraine.
01:42You only need to pay a few hundred euros for an electric car.
01:46EV seller Oleksi argues that electric cars can actually be useful during power cuts.
01:53They can serve as a giant power bank supplying electricity to your home.
01:58He's been selling devices he built that can turn a charged car into a power source.
02:04This particular car has 60 kilowatts battery. So more or less house consume something about 4 kilowatts in average.
02:16And we can use this car as an uninterrupted power supply.
02:21This is a solution many European countries are also looking at to better manage energy supplies in the future.
02:27To use EVs not only as an energy source for households but for repowering the grid.
02:33With electricity in short supply in Ukraine, perhaps a power bank on four wheels is exactly what people need.
02:41Megumi Lim, CGTN, Kyiv.