Russian truck manufacturer Kamaz plans to start developing hydrogen-powered trucks and buses in 2021, says the general director of the company Sergei Kogogin on Monday.

“For the next year, we are planning to create an 18-tonnes hydrogen truck and a hydrogen bus. How long will we manage to do this, I will not say, but the plan is there,” Kogogin adds.

Kamaz is developing together with the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) a universal modular platform that will allow the production of nine- and 18-metre buses, and electric buses with new improved characteristics to be put on the conveyor.

The mass production of the first Russian electric vehicle (EV) Kama-1 will begin no earlier than 2023-2024 and certification will start next year, Kogogin says. According to him, its market value could be RUB 1.2-1.4 million ($18,500).

“I believe that car sharing will develop and EV inside the cities are the most optimal thing, therefore the car was conceived as a small vehicle for car sharing,” Kogogin observed. “If we have a market for 2,000-3,000 such cars, we can make the infrastructure for this.”

The head of Kamaz is sure that two cities have now the potential markets for electric vehicles - Moscow and St. Petersburg.

As Kallanish reported earlier, Russia presented on 10 December its first EV that was developed by Kamaz and SPbPU with a planned sales volume of about 20,000 cars/year.  

The launch of another Russian EV was postponed due to lack of funds. Zetta needed RUB 100 million to start production. Russian carmaker Avtotor also intends to start producing EVs and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

DNV-GL estimates the “big transition” in the Russian EVs market is expected to happen in the 2030s. The analysts expect future growth will take longer than what’s currently happening in Norway, France, UK and other European countries.