In 2022, KAMAZ continued producing and developing a line of gas-powered vehicles. By the end of the year, more than 900 gas-powered vehicles and almost 800 methane-powered buses will have been produced.
The new circumstances associated with Western sanctions did not significantly affect the production of KAMAZ gas-powered vehicles, however, they required work to be done to redesign the NGV serial model range for an available component base. This task was solved in the shortest possible time, and since September, the production of NGVs was resumed on a new, sanctions-resistant component base. At the same time, the terms for the engineering and manufacturing development of a promising model range of gas-powered vehicles of the K5 generation have also not changed significantly: the start of production of the KAMAZ-54901 LNG-powered freight truck with a new KAMAZ R6 engine with a capacity of 450 hp is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023.
According to the results of the year, the volume of production of gas-powered vehicles will amount to 906 units, including 682 freight trucks of the K4 generation. In addition, the outgoing year will be a record year for the production of KAMAZ gas-powered buses: almost 800 units will be manufactured. As a result, KAMAZ became the leader of the Russian market for gas-powered buses. Thus, the total number of gas-powered vehicles produced by KAMAZ in 2022 will be more than 1,700 units.
In 2022, regulatory and technical documentation for the maintenance and repair of LNG-powered vehicles was developed, and work is currently underway to prepare the dealer network for its maintenance.
A new impetus to the development of vehicles running on natural gas is given by cooperation with PJSC Gazprom. The companies have been successfully cooperating for many years in the development of the gas motor fuel market in Russia, and this work continued throughout 2022. In particular, when identifying promising sales markets, KAMAZ is guided by Gazprom’s plans to expand the network of CNG filling compressor stations. Gazprom is actively purchasing gas engine equipment from KAMAZ to upgrade its own vehicle fleet. In 2014-2021, 3.6 thousand units of KAMAZ gas-engine vehicles were delivered to the partner.
The key task for 2023 is to launch mass production of LNG-powered KAMAZ-54901 freight trucks that are in demand on the market. In addition, work remains relevant to localize the component base of gas-engine vehicles, which is already being carried out for a fairly wide range of products.
In the field of passenger vehicles, KAMAZ will continue designing an especially large class articulated CNG bus and organize the production of the aforementioned KAMAZ-6250 (4×4) shift buses for Gazprom PTC.