BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 21
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Hybrid car sales have significantly increased in Georgia, said Head of Sales Department of Caucasus Auto Import Aleksandre Vekua, Trend reports via Georgian media.
"If 3-4 years ago 1 000 hybrids were sold per year, now this figure increased to 10,000. From the ecological perspective, this is very positive, "he said.
He said in 2020 every 24-th car sold in the global car market was electric, while in Georgia this figure was much lower - 1 car from each 196th sold.
According to him, Georgia significantly drags behind other countries due to the high price of electric cars and electric cars in Georgia are not bought not because people don’t care about the environment but because they are too expensive.
“Electric cars that are now being produced are still far from perfect. The modern electric cars are not yet so technologically advanced that they could be bought, say, after 10-15 years of operation,” he explains.
According to the Mycar.ge company founder Beso Katamadze, apart from high price and technical imperfections, lack of infrastructure to service electric cars also hampers the growth of sales.
“There are a lot of problems such as a lack of car services and charging stations. Many refrain from buying electric cars due to a lack of infrastructure,” he says.
Katamadze adds if the problems with the infrastructure are resolved, the demand for electric cars will noticeably increase.
As of January 1, 2021, 2,187 electric vehicles were registered in Georgia that is 0.18 percent of the total vehicle fleet.
The sales of electric vehicles began to grow in 2017, as back in 2016 only 34 electric vehicles were registered in the country.
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