Electric cars really started to enter the Kazakhstan market. In 2017, BMW started their official sales, in Kostanay [city in Kazakhstan] began assembling electric vehicles JAC iEV6e and iEV7. Also next upcoming months of 2018, Volvos will return to Kazakhstan again. In 2019 the company plans to sell exclusively hybrid cars.
It is known that Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev urges to accelerate the spread of electric vehicles in the country. He recently said that in the future in Almaty and Astana there will be only electric cars allowed.
The first step in this direction has already been made via the government approval of the allocation of 303.7 million tenge, which is 715 thousand Euro (from the money collected from importers and manufacturers of the "RRP Operator") for the installation of 109 gasoline stations (EZS) for electric vehicles of the Ukrainian company E-line. 50 charging stations will be installed in Almaty and Astana, and another nine - on the route Astana-Borovoe.
In total, by the end of 2018 there will be 350 stations in the country. The cost of one liter, more precisely, the kilowatt of energy at these gas stations is under question now as the issue of the Astana Energy Retail Company about the cost of refueling is being worked out. In parallel, negotiations are being held with the site owners about entering the period of "free filling stations".
That is, you can expect that the first time to recharge your cars can be free.
Also, the locations where the new Electronic Charging Stations are installed first became known. In Astana, this list includes: the Palace of Peace and Harmony, the central concert hall "Kazakhstan", the ice palace "Barys-Arena", the SEC "Mega Silk Way". The preliminary list for Almaty includes: Musulov Musical Theater Theater, as well as the Charging Stations at the intersection of Panfilov Street and Aiteke Bi street and on Abai Avenue, 52 and ul. Satpayev, 90.
The lack of infrastructure is a serious barrier that may soon disappear, but it is not the only one. The fact is that the cost of cars with alternative power units is 30, and sometimes 50 percent more expensive than their classic counterparts. In most European countries, this gap is compensated by a number of benefits. In Kazakhstan there are some more complexities that even to import the e-car into the country, there is a customs duty that is levied.
In fact in 2014, the duty fell to zero, then it rose to five percent. In 2018, an indicator of custom duty of four percent was reached. Definitely there should be some additional steps forward by the government to decrease costume duties to stimulate the import growth.
Now, by and large, an electric car is not so much a means of transportation as luxury. Both hybrid cars and electric ones are really capable of changing the ecological situation in large cities, but for this the government should take a number of decisive steps to make alternative transport a truly attractive product.
Another problem inherent in the region is ecological pollutions especially in Almaty, Astana and Mangystau region that raise a big issue nowadays. Thus, according to a Pollution Index 2018 Mid-Year, Almaty is considered one of the most polluted cities, taking 60th place in a list.
E-cars are different from petrol engines in that it does not produce conventional fuel emissions, thus being considered one of the pollution-free means of transportation.
eCharge, a start-up company founded in 2016 in Switzerland by a serial entrepreneur Markus Dold is now considering Kazakhstani market with its great potential to solve number of the problems mentioned above. The company has now valid projects all across the Europe and is going to accelerate the adoption of e-vehicles through building necessary infrastructure. The company is eco friendly and has ecological responsibility among one of its major goals. What is more interesting about the company is that it follows all the technological innovations and is using cryptocurrency as a means of payment for charging e-cars. Mainly the company is building e-charging stations near hotels. The innovative concept of the project is as follows: the e-car drivers book hotels that have e-charging stations via the company application. While staying at a hotel being overnight or for a couple of hours the e-car is being charged. The payment for the service is made either by cash or by withdrawing a certain amount of tokens from cryptocurrency wallet in the mobile application, which differentiates the company from its competitors. The exclusive service agreements with hotels are going to be concluded according to company plans.
Kazakhstan is currently known with a wide surge in cryptocurrency operations and development and mining of cryptocurrency and bitcoins. Moreover, there are active cryptocurrency communities and initiative groups in the country.
The eCharge project is oriented to people who are conscious about the environment and at the same time who are technologically and financially advanced and well-educated. Recently Kazakhstan has more and more people who are ready to accept innovations and who pursue latest technologies along with having a good education.
eCharge is a promising start-up that can improve ecological situation in Kazakhstan creating convenience for customers together with offering innovative payment solutions at customer discretion.
More Information: echarge.io