By Eurasia Network – April 19, 2021
The Zetta electric car in 2019. Photo credits : The Russian Federal Institute of Industrial Property, January 31 2020.
The serial production of the first Russian electric car Zetta is expected to start by the end of 2021, said the Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov told reporters during a working trip on March 26 to the Zhiguly Dolina technopark in the Samara region.
“[The serial production] will begin by the end of the year. Everything will depend on the completion of the development work”, said the official.
Before talking with journalists, Denis Manturov rode a Zetta electric car, presented near the exhibition center of the technopark. The minister commented that the car driving was “comfortable”.
“Since this is still an experimental industrial model, here it is necessary to work on sound insulation, the interior, so that it is regular. Considering that it has a limitation here, it is difficult to understand from the dynamics, but the control is quite comfortable. We will continue to work with the material so that the consumer enjoys the drive. The car must be affordable. I drove the prototype [model], now we will wait for the serial one” said the Minister.
A competitive electric car
The Zetta (Zero Emission Terra Transport Asset) is the first Russian electric car to be mass-produced at the Togliatti plant, in the Samara region. The city of Tolyatti is the Russian hub for the automotive industry, home of the carmaker AvtoVAZ.
The Zetta is a compact three-door electric vehicle. The maximum speed of an electric vehicle is 120 km/h.
The price of the Zetta in the basic configuration will be 550 thousand rubles (6,000 euros). This basic version has a 10 kW/h capacity in eco-mode and is designed for 200 km of cruising range without recharging. The batteries are imported from China.
If in April 2021 the timing of the serial launch of Zetta cars is still unclear, mass production should start before 2022 according to the statement of the Minister of Industry Denis Manturov.
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The CEO of Zetta LLC, Denis Shurovsky, previously reported that the Industrial Development Fund (IDF) refused in September 2020 the project a budgetary loan of 100 million rubles (1.1 million euros), which is why the start of production of Zetta electric vehicles, scheduled for the end of 2020, was postponed. The first delay was in 2019.
Denis Shurovsky had told journalists in 2020 that :
“We plan to launch serial production by the end of the year, it depends on the approval from the Industrial Development Fund and the allocation of financial resources. Now we have invested about 570 million rubles (around 6 275 000 euros) and we need to invest another 100 million rubles (1.1 million euros). After the approval and the receipt of funds, we will need 3-4 months to launch production.”
Zetta LLC announced plans to enter sales of 10-15 thousand electric vehicles per year. “The pessimistic forecast is 10 thousand cars sold every year. Taking into account the growing interest in green energy, we can reach 15 thousand cars a year by 2023” said Shchurovsky.
The patent of the Zetta was officially registered on January 31, 2020 in the base of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property.
The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade was considering in October 2020 the possibility of helping Zetta LLC to export the Russian electric car to India, Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt and Germany.
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Zetta LLC was registered in September 2016. The company became a resident of the special economic zone Togliatti ASEZ in 2017 and employs 53 workers. The authorized capital amounts to 68 907 500 rubles (759 thousands euros).
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