Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 10 October, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev got acquainted with the presentation of a project to develop the electric vehicle industry and expand the service of electric vehicles.

The Development Strategy of our country in 2022-2026 defines the goals for the transition to a "green" economy, including the production of electric vehicles. At the meeting held on 14 February 2022, the head of state gave specific instructions in this direction.

During today’s presentation, the management of the joint-stock company "Uzavtosanoat" provided information on the agreements reached and models, the production of which is planned to be mastered. Issues of establishing the production of electric vehicles, expanding the network of charging stations, and localizing components were discussed.

Electric vehicles are rapidly becoming part of our daily lives. Imports are growing. Why? Because there is a demand. The costs associated with the operation of such cars are less, the service is cheaper. Most importantly, our people prefer them. Therefore, we need to provide the population with affordable, low-cost, modern electric vehicles, Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

Indeed, electric vehicles are 10 times cheaper to operate than conventional cars and 3 times less harmful to the environment. The popularity of such vehicles in developed countries is growing.

However, electric vehicles require a certain infrastructure. For example, there is one charging station for every 20 electric vehicles in the world. There are only 50 such stations in our country, they are located mainly in Tashkent and Samarkand. There are no service centers for electric vehicles.

- In each of our decisions, we must look not at one year, but at decades ahead. Therefore, taking into account the environmental agenda and for the sake of the future, we need to develop this industry now. The sooner we do this, the more competition will appear in the car market, the President said.

The necessity of creating an enterprise together with a foreign company with experience in this area and organizing the production of popular models of electric vehicles was emphasized.

The head of state paid special attention to ensuring that electric vehicles were affordable. And it depends on the degree of localization of the components.

So, 30 percent of the cost of an electric car is batteries, 10 percent is electric transmitters. During the presentation, the possibilities for the production of such parts in our country were listed, using the available reserves of lithium, copper and graphite.

Today, 20 electric buses run in Tashkent. Next year, it is planned to bring another 200 electric buses to the capital and 100 to Samarkand. The President pointed out the need to start relevant work in other cities.

The issue of expanding the network of service points for electric vehicles was also raised. The task was set to install two thousand charging stations in parking lots, fuel stations and highways in the next two years. These stations will benefit from land tax, property and profit tax relief. Entrepreneurs who own charging stations will be given the right to sell electricity at a free price.

The importance of training specialists for the industry was emphasized. Plans were presented to organize a scientific laboratory for electric vehicles at the Turin Polytechnic University, to improve the qualifications of teachers and specialists in China, Germany, the USA, South Korea and other countries.