Instead of solving really important problems – for example, the import substitution of scarce car parts – the government is thinking about popularizing electric transport. Exemption from paying parking and motor vehicle taxes in other regions, subsidies under preferential car loan programs and now – free travel on highways.
According to Izvestia, citing his own government sources, if the new project gets the green light, electric vehicle owners will be able to use the M4 Don, M11 Neva and other high-speed routes for free from next year. And in theory, this measure is valid for three years – until 2026. It is, of course, unlikely that it will provide an explosive demand for “electric trains”, but from a black sheep, as you know …
In practice, entering such a “bonus” can be tricky. At least because the authorities have not yet decided on the sources of compensation for losses to toll road operators. In addition, according to representatives of the publisher of the Western High-Speed Diameter in St. Petersburg, today there are no ways to “objectively determine or distinguish electric cars in the general flow of traffic”.
That is, the implementation of the project requires not only “free” money, which of course is not available, but also new technologies – perhaps even the modernization of existing toll points on highways (not a cheap pleasure either). So the chances of electric vehicle owners getting such a ‘road’ benefit as early as 2023 are very slim.