Ukrainian domestic sales of electric vehicles (EVs) increased in January-July, despite the ongoing Russian military invasion into Ukraine, according to data from the Ukrainian automotive association Ukravtoprom.

Sales of electric cars were up by 34% on-year to 5,900 units, Kallanish notes. In July alone, 1,732 EVs were sold in Ukraine, and this is a new record for the country, the association claims.

“The demand for electric cars increased by 64% compared to June and immediately by 2.3 times compared to July 2021,” it adds.  

As before, the vast majority of sold electric cars are second-hand, with a market share of 89%. However, the segment of new electric vehicles also showed an increase of 229% compared to last year. The main reason for such a jump in demand is the rise in price of oil products and their shortage in May-June, Ukravtoprom says.

According to its data, sales of electric cars in Ukraine are growing rapidly and have already significantly exceeded pre-war figures. 

The market leader remains unchanged. The Nissan Leaf found 288 buyers in a month. At the same time, Volkswagen's electric vehicles showed significant growth of 285, and they have already overtaken Tesla with 75 units.

The crossover Volkswagen ID.4 leads among new electric vehicles. Second place goes to Dongfeng-Honda X-NV/M-NV, and third place goes to Audi e-tron.

More than 33,000 electric vehicles, both new and second-hand, were registered in Ukraine in 2021. Last year alone, Ukrainians bought 8,800 electric cars.

By 2030, Ukraine plans to increase the annual number of sales of EVs by more than 10 times, but this goal was set before the Russian-Ukrainian war.

In December, Ukrainian company Vilkon began selling the city electric car Lulida. The EV is assembled in Kharkov from Chinese components. In the basic version, the model is equipped with a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 100 ampere-hours or 100-120 kilometres.