Tesla Owners In Belarus: This Car Is Almost Free In Service

The owners of electric cars told why they are so few of them in the country though.

The whole world is experiencing an e-car boom, but not Belarus. For example, in Ukraine for the first half of the year more than 1500 electric cars were registered, and in Belarus drivers seem slow to change to ecological and economical cars, the report of Belsat says.

The electric car is really beautiful: a charge of 100 kilometers costs Bn 1,5; a Jaguar or a BMW of an equal capacity consumes 16 liters of fuel, or Bn 20 for the same 100 kilometers. The benefit is obvious.

"The cars are clean and comfortable, practically do not require operating costs. All it needs is replacing pads when they wear out; changing the wiper blades, and changing the battery of keys. That’s all the service, " — a Tesla owner Dzmitry Pliahanski says.

However, has the e-cars era come to Belarus?

Now there are only 6 public charging stations in Minsk, and their total number in the country is about 30, many of them temporarily do not work.

The European states are trying their best to encourage the distribution of electric cars: many of them have a free or privileged possibility to charge a car, free parking in city centers, the ability to use a lane designed for public transport, etc.

"If not the state, then who should create the conditions, some privileges for the installation of these stations, a mechanism for electricity compensation? There must be certain conditions for those who charge electric cars," — Arthur Tumanau, another happy user of an e-car produced by the company of Elon Musk.

Prices for e-cars quickly going down

Many budget options are appearing in the secondary market.

An e-car. In 2015. € 6300. In Europe, it is quite possible to buy an inexpensive electric car in the secondary market. But if you bring it here, you need to add payments to the state to the total value.

For individuals: customs clearance — 17%, plus — value added tax: for a car up to three years it is 54% of the customs value (this price is determined by the customs itself and can seriously differ from the market value), or 48% if the car's value is higher € 8500, for a car from 3 to 5 years VAT makes 20%. There is also the recycling fee — $ 250-400 depending on the age.

In the end, it does not come too cheap.

Also, insurance for electric cars is almost twice as expensive as for conventional cars.

But instead of promoting the spread of environmental and economic cars in our country, the state creates obstacles that become decisive when choosing a means of transportation.