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Seeking to cement Ukraine’s growing reputation as a hot market for electric cars, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada voted to extend tax breaks on imported electric cars to the end of 2022.
The tax breaks, which have been in effect for a year, clear away VAT and excise taxes on electric cars.
It’s part of Ukraine’s strategy to market itself as a friendly market both for those planning to buy electric cars and for those considering to potentially manufacture them.
Infrastructure Minister Vladimir Omelyan said that his country is working on a 15-year-strategy to that effect.
“We want a Tesla factory to be located in Ukraine and to manufacture electric vehicles not only for the Ukrainian, but also for the European market,” Omelyan said.
It’s also working to build a larger network of charging stations for electric cars that it plans to complete by next year.
“This year, a private company launches superchargers – electric gas stations with a capacity of 50 kilowatts,” Omelyan said, “We want to start with another state company this year and complete the installation of superchargers next year, but with more power – 100-150 kilowatts per charge so that Ukrainians are not afraid to travel outside the city, but they could safely travel, for example, Kyiv – Odesa, knowing that they traveled 100-150 kilometers, and every 100-150 kilometers there is a supercharger . This will change the psychological picture…”
The number of electric vehicles in Ukraine is growing every year. Between January and July of this year, the number of electric cars purchased in Ukraine jumped 64 percent, with 2,490 – mostly used – electric cars purchased. The most popular by far was the Nissan Leaf, accounting for about two-thirds of purchases, followed by the BMW i3 and then the Tesla Model S.
