Why did the Ministry of Security suddenly focus on electric cars? / Do buyers welcome?!

Online Economy – Fatemeh Javadi; Milad Begi, an expert in the automotive industry In a conversation with Economy Online, he answered the doubts and questions that are raised these days about electric cars, their import and consumption in Iran, which you will read below.

Economy Online: Minister Aliabadi’s emphasis is on electric cars, this emphasis did not exist in the previous periods, how come we are witnessing this issue becoming prominent all of a sudden?

Bigi: It is not new to start researching electric cars in the country’s automobile industry, Iran Khodro was the first company to start research in this field, and the project to electrify cars like Dana was started by Jetco and Ipco, subsidiaries of Iran Khodro. Research programs were going on, but operationally and for production, there was never an official, clear and transparent plan before Aliabadi.

Economy Online: Minister Sammat has announced the home charging of electric cars, are the conditions really ready?

Bigi: Looking at global experiences, the conditions for home charging are ready, and home charging is used much more than public charging centers. Although supercharge technologies have also come, but due to the fact that it is time-consuming, it is less used outside of Iran, and it is used more than charging in homes when the network load is low. The batteries work in such a way that it can cover distances of 500 to 800 kilometers with a single charge.

We are far from the infrastructure, a series of charging stations have been set up, which is not bad in the first step, but reforms should be made so that the charging of electric cars can happen at home.

Online Economy: How do you evaluate the cases that are proposed by the Minister of Silence to replace electric cars instead of internal combustion cars?

Bigi: First, we have to determine what we want from an electric car, we define ourselves as an electric car consumer or a producer, each of these has different considerations. If we are looking to be only consumers, we will not have much challenge, because the manufacturing company always seeks to make the use of its product easy for users. But if we intend to be a part of the value chain of these cars in the process of producing electric cars or its components in the region or the world, then it becomes difficult to decide where in the chain to enter, how to act, and in this technological shift that It happens, can we make up some of the lag behind the auto industry?

If the decision and pressure is on the use of an electric car, it will eventually happen, but the fact is that the electric car has a very, very small effect on cleaning the air, and the fuel consumption of electric cars is not much different from internal combustion engines. Also, the difference in driving with these two types of cars is not that prominent.

Therefore, we must determine what we are looking for from the introduction of an electric car, whether using an electric car is an honor or what problem it wants to solve.

This does not mean that we should not go for electric cars, but why are we pursuing this issue with so much noise. I think this issue is still not clear even for the policy maker.

Online Economy: How much does the sanctions affect the import of electric cars?

Bigi: The import of electric and non-electric cars is not much different. Most of the cars are imported from China and both of these cars are available in China and can be imported. I am not saying that the sanctions did not prevent imports, but with the same difficulties that internal combustion cars are imported, electric cars are also imported and there is no particular difference.

Online Economy: How are the prices of electric cars different from internal combustion cars?

Bigi: Electric cars have a significantly higher price than internal combustion cars. Due to the fact that electric cars are more expensive than internal combustion cars, Chinese cars are cheaper than other cars, and importers are likely to go for Chinese cars.

The battery usually needs to be replaced after 5 to 7 years, which requires paying huge costs.

Online economy: How is the use of electric cars in other countries?

Bigi: It is being followed up seriously in European countries because these countries have energy issues. Battery issue is very important for America and there is a big war between America and China regarding battery research and development.

Online Economy: Will people welcome electric cars?

Bigi: We are at the consumption point of electric cars, and no production plan has been announced. This work should have extensions to accept it as a valuable work.

The price at which we import electric cars, the after-sales service, the charging stations in public or in homes will affect the acceptance of the people.

Hybrid cars also had a big price difference, but they were welcomed by some.