Russian and Ukrainian Project for Electrification of Fuelling Stations
Russian company Melston Engineering and Ukrainian company E-Line signed a reciprocal convention on the electric fuelling infrastructure development within the territory of the Russian Federation.
The convention has been signed at the central office of Melston Engineering in Saint Petersburg. The Ukrainian company undertakes to supply electric fuelling stations and associated equipment to Russia, as well as to instruct technical employees. The Russian company will be responsible for customer care and installation of equipment by the customer’s request.
The question of eco-friendly transport is relevant for Russia. High price of the transport facilities and the service parts themselves along with the lack of pump islands influence the development of electric cars infrastructure. Thus, there are frequently benefits on fuelling costs and parking for the owners of electric cars. According to website plafocha.com, there are about 90 stations in Russia, 4 of them are situated in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region. Most of them are trendy elements and located on the territory of shopping centers and hotels.
The car battery needs about 40 minutes for charging on specialized stations, it will serve for 100-160 km of run. Manufacturers of cars and electric fuelling stations do their best to cut the charging time and to increase the duration of energy consumption, nevertheless this factor also affects the customers’ choice when they choose between the electric transport and traditional car.
An important factor for development of the electric fuelling stations net is increasing attraction of Russia for tourists. The capacity of incoming tourism in Russia increased by 19% in summer 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. Saint Petersburg has always been an important touristic center of Russia. In 2016, 2847.2 ths. foreign tourists have visited our city. The number of tourists will increase in 2017-2018, as FIFA Confederations Cup and FIFA World Cup will be held in Russia. The significant part of the travelers comes from neighboring Scandinavian countries, where electric fuelling stations infrastructure is highly developed. However, there is nary station on the way from Finland to Saint Petersburg. That is why a traveler cannot reach Saint Petersburg by electric car.
The Government of the Russian Federation makes some certain steps in the electric fuelling stations infrastructure development. In August 2015, Dmitry Medvedev signed an order for traditional fuelling stations to be equipped with the chargers for transport with electric motors. Despite this, the situation with the electric fuelling stations in our country is frustrating.
"We consider that engineering companies, working in fuelling stations building and construction sector, can make their contribution to development of eco fuelling stations," says the CEO of Melston Engineering, Stanislav Parvitskiy. "For example, they can present their solutions to top management of fuel companies and realize them together. It’s important for us to move with the time. That is why we are planning to install not less than 100 electric fuelling stations throughout Russia by the beginning of FIFA World Cup. Most of them we expect to place on traditional fuelling stations. We count on the owners of fuelling stations to assist us in this case."