KAMAZ hosted a meeting on the NGV market development with the participation of Yury Borisov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
The meeting was also attended by Viktor Zubkov, Chairman of the Gazprom Board of Directors, Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, Albert Karimov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan, Sergey Kogogin, General Director of KAMAZ PTC, and others.
It was announced at the meeting that today the transport industry, primarily the automobile industry, is at the stage of a global transition to new energy sources: natural gas, electricity, hydrogen. “A number of factors make NGV fuel the most promising substitute for diesel fuel and gasoline due to its low cost, and in contrast to other types of green fuel – due to the cost of switching to it,” said Yury Borisov.
According to him, the NGV fleet in Russia increased from 93 thousand to 227 thousand vehicles in three years. At the same time, the number of gas filling infrastructure facilities increased from 298 to 650 units. The sale of natural gas as motor fuel increased from 560 million cubic meters up to 1.3 billion cubic meters. “In practice, the state provides assistance, first of all, through subsidizing both manufacturers and users of NGVs. This is probably not enough, additional efforts and government assistance are needed in this industry,” Yuri Borisov said following the meeting on the development of the Russian gas engine market.
He also added that Russian automakers could bring to market almost the entire line of necessary NGVs: cars, trucks, buses. “The question is about the mass, large-scale introduction of these vehicles into the market. For this, of course, it is necessary to strengthen measures of state support, although it cannot be said that nothing is being done,” the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation emphasized mentioning that the government had adopted a roadmap for the introduction of low-tonnage production of natural gas and NGVs until 2025. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, 3.3 billion rubles are allocated annually to support the purchase of NGVs in Russia.
In addition, during the visit to KAMAZ, the members of the delegation visited the production facilities of the top Russian truck maker. They visited the cab frame plant and the gas vehicles unit. The guests were also shown the cab assembly conveyor, the main assembly conveyor at the automobile plant and modern KAMAZ vehicles from the company’s wide product line.