GOMEL OBLAST, 24 November (BelTA) – It is necessary to start making electric cars in Belarus. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement during his working trip to Gomel Oblast on 24 November, BelTA has learned.
“We have to make electric cars. I count on the ability of the Chinese side to create electric cars together with us at the Geely factory. Specialists of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus are already seriously working on these cars,” noted Alexander Lukashenko.
Alexander Lukashenko said that creating a battery to move the car for 500-600km at 100kmph is the biggest challenge. “We will do it. Either with the Chinese side or on our own. But I would like to do it together with China,” said the head of state.
Alexander Lukashenko said that driving vehicles is his hobby. “I've driven all kinds of tractors, automobiles, and trucks. Even the old GAZ-51 truck and the MTZ-50 truck. They were my first experience in the kolkhoz. My elder brother worked like that. I tried applying fertilizers. It was not a simple operation. It was my first work. But electric cars are more than a hobby. I would like Belarus to have an electric car of its own design,” stressed the president.
Alexander Lukashenko said that electric cars are a recent fashionable trend. “Countries have set concrete goals before them. Germany and the UK, which relied on automobiles with internal combustion engines in the past, understand now that electric cars are unavoidable, that electric cars are clean and represent future. They are switching to electric cars either by 2025 or by 2030. We have set up a new manufacturing facility. It is necessary to make electric cars in parallel,” believes the president.
The head of state noted he had tried driving a Tesla electric car himself. “It can travel at any speed. Honestly speaking, when I hit 280kmph, I was afraid it could take off. An aircraft takes off and lands with speeds like that. A very good car,” he noted.
Alexander Lukashenko also spoke in positive terms about the first Belarusian car made by the BelGee factory. “A good automobile. Not because I am the president and it is our car. It is a decent car. I am very sensitive about things like that. The best thing is that it is a Belarus-made car, it can be repaired locally,” stressed the head of state.
BelTA reported earlier that representatives of Chinese companies presented Alexander Lukashenko with a Geely electric car when the head of state visited the BelGee car factory. On 24 November Alexander Lukashenko noted he intends to test the car next weekend. “I think it will be a good car for the mass market with a bit of improvement. We will try to create our own electric car. Even more so because we will have a surplus of electricity once we commission the nuclear power plant,” concluded the president.
