Konstantin Pridybaylo, the correspondent for the pro-government Russian TV channel RT, shared his impressions of transport in Minsk on the "Azarenok. Napryamuyu" show on April 25.
“My eyes were pleased as I drove around Minsk today; today was just a short day for the All-National Assembly. I look around — electric cars, there aren't as many in Moscow. Why? Because Alexander Grigorievich understands that a country's independence, its sovereignty... We think about it like a refrigerator. You need to put groceries in it, and they need to be grown somewhere. And so, in cooperation with Russia, a nuclear power plant appeared. ... In Belarus, there are electric cars... Go out on the street, count them, every third one, I think, will be an electric car," he said.
However, the statements made by Konstantin Pridybaylo contradict the facts. Russia has 11 operating nuclear power plants. At the same time, Russian citizens own about 40,000 electric vehicles out of a total of 46 million passenger cars. The share of electric cars is less than 0.1%.
In Belarus, individuals and organizations own almost 8,000 electric vehicles out of just over 3 million passenger cars. Thus, the share of electric vehicles is three times higher in Belarus than in Russia.
The disparity is caused by the high cost of electric vehicles in Russia. It is the only country in the EAEU that refused to introduce duty-free imports of electric cars, hoping to stimulate domestic production.
Norway is the world leader in terms of the share of electric cars. Every third car on Norwegian roads runs on electricity.
The Norwegians were encouraged to make the switch by the abolition of duties and fees on the purchase of electric cars.
