ARE WE READY FOR THE ERA OF ELECTRIC CARS?

Elon Musk's electric cars flying to Mars will arrive in Kazakhstan. This was stated by the American adventurer himself. So, it is obvious that electric cars will immediately enter the market and force to reconsider traffic. It looks like electric scooters were the cause of the accident. But there is a way to prevent the problem. This is a country to listen to scientists. Through today's interview, we intend to address this challenge.

In the scientific community of Kazakhstan and in society, there have been talks for a long time about the creation of a competence center for the study of electric vehicles. This was announced by the chief researcher of the scientific and technological park of the Kazakh National University named after al-Farabi Ruslan Utebayev.

- Historically, electric vehicles in Kazakhstan have been developed since 2011. I've been driving an electric car for seven years. At that time, no one knew what it was, and no one believed that it would develop. Society took it as a toy. He thought that as soon as people's interest was suppressed, everything would be forgotten. But whether we like it or not, this is an important project in our life. I always compare electric cars to mobile phones. At first, in the 2000s, no one believed that cell phones had a future. It was expensive. And now smartphones have become a part of our life. As a result, we ran into unexpected problems. For example, children talk on the phone from morning to night. In the same way, with the increase in the number of electric vehicles, we may face unexpected difficulties, the scientist believes.

According to him, the creation of a competence center for the study of electric vehicles is a very effective solution. After all, the main task of the center is to explain to the public. "What is an electric car and how to use it?" answers the following questions:

- There is a proverb in Kazakh: "Everything has its place." Likewise, the pros and cons of electric vehicles are widely discussed today. If we weigh it a lot, sometimes it’s ineffective, but now it’s convenient somewhere. For example, environmentally friendly vehicles are designed for urban use. You know that the territory of Kazakhstan is very large, so it is inconvenient to travel between cities. The question arises: "Then what place do electric cars occupy in our life?" After talking with experts, we decided that it would be more profitable in the field of car rental. However, some people think that “it is enough to go around the city, you can go to remote areas by train or plane”. Of course, we must admit that different opinions are natural, - Ruslan believes.

According to the expert, in 2015, an electric car driver considered himself a member of a major environmental movement. It was like a club divided by interests. Some experts now say that they have been using environmentally friendly vehicles since 2017, creating confusion among the population. Because people may think that such iron tulpars have been around in our country only since 2017. But our scientists have been doing this since 2011.

- Then no one listened to us. For example, in 2015 I bought an electric car, and in the same year we installed a power plant. Since we worked at a university, the university required us to attend all conferences and events. But the participants are not interested at all, no one is listening to you. So sometimes our investment is wasted. And if you start explaining to people, “Kazakhstan still has a long way to go to get electric vehicles,” he said. And now the work of the then scientific community is no longer visible. But that's all on the Internet. Today, when I see such people, I just smile. Because five years ago I saw myself trying my best to promote electric vehicles. Then I understand that everything has its time, - says Ruslan Utebayev.

The scientist noted that in 2014, for the first time, the research work "Possibilities for the integration of electric vehicles in Kazakhstan" was carried out.

- In the course of the project, we were looking for answers to the questions posed and found the necessary facts. In 2015-16, we studied the power supply infrastructure and installed the first power plant in 2015. Moreover, it was not a foreign product, but a domestic product fully developed by our scientists. We also received a patent for it. We set up control, made a board. It was located on campus for two years. People came and left their cars on the power grid. Then it had to be removed. Because the territory of the university is closed, - he said.

Mr Ruslan said that at first the power plant should be free and free of charge.

- In 2016, we opened Polytechnic Electronics LLP. Polytechnic means multi-technology. That is, we are engaged in electronics of various technologies. We created the QuatPoint powerhouse. So far, 20-30 stations have been sold across Kazakhstan. It is currently located in Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Aktau. A local businessman pays for the installation of power plants in Nur-Sultan for free, the scientist said.

After nearly a decade of research, experts have discovered the following problems. The first is the lack of competent knowledge in the field of electric vehicles. Mr. Ruslan:

“You can't blame anyone for that. Because there is very little propaganda about this. The second issue is cost. For example, people with an average income say that they do not have enough money to buy a car worth 15-20 million tenge. Tesla cost 30 million tenge. Of course, this is not available to everyone. In fact, electric cars are not only produced by Tesla, but also by other brands, and people are surprised when we say that it is much cheaper. It seems to me that expensive electric vehicles have more negative effects. Because they were widely advertised and created a widespread misconception among ordinary people that "electric cars are expensive". For example, no one studies spaceships because they know they will never go into space. In the same way, people think, "This is not available, I will study it." This is the biggest mistake, he said.

To prevent this mistake, the scientist said, China immediately brought cheap electric vehicles to the market. And the price will be around 3-4 million tenge.

- As a result, there are a lot of such machines in the country now. There are about 800 thousand power plants alone. Now imagine how many electric vehicles there are. This was done as a result of the state program. The third problem is the lack of a state program for the development of electric vehicles in the country. As a result, the market is in confusion. Whoever wants to buy gets it. And most of them are rich people, ”he said.

Camila Dussein