KRET, part of the Russian state corporation Rostec, has developed what it calls a universal charging station for electric vehicles. According to Rostec, the State Ryazan Instrument Plant has made three working prototypes of the FORA charging station, one of which operates at Level 2, and two that deliver a DC fast charge at 20 kW. A 50 kW DC charger is currently in development and pre-production.

The FORA charging station was developed especially for the EL Lada, but will support EVs from a range of manufacturers, such as Tesla, Mitsubishi and others, says Rostec.

Russia is not exactly an EV hotspot – according to a recent survey from ABB, EVs accounted for 0.01% of the auto market there in 2013 (compared to 0.6% in the US, and 6.1% in Norway). The only EVs available are the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and perhaps the mysterious EL Lada, which was introduced in 2012.

However, that may be changing soon. At the beginning of 2014, Russia suspended import duties and VAT taxes on EVs for a period of two years, cutting the effective price of an i-MiEV nearly in half. The Russian Network Agency (Rosseti) has announced that it will create an EV charging infrastructure, with public facilities located at motorway filling stations in Moscow, Chelyabinsk and other Russian cities. “By 2020, according to our forecasts, up to 10% of the total number of cars sold in Russia will be electric,” said Andrey Pankov of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Sources: Rostec, Green Car Congress, ABB, AutoblogGreen, Automotive Logistics, Global Fleet, Technologic Vehicles, EV World, Green Car Reports