Mass production of Lada electric cars launched in Russia

MOSCOW, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Russia's largest carmaker AvtoVAZ, the automaker that produces Lada cars, started mass production of electric cars at the plant in Izhevsk on Wednesday, Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported.

According to the company, the "Lada e-Largus" model launched into industrial production is currently the most localized electric car in Russia, with a localization level of more than 50 percent.

The car comes in two versions: passenger and commercial, with different batteries and payloads. The passenger version has a range of 420 kilometers, whereas the commercial version ranges about 320 kilometers depending on the model.

The price of the basic configuration of the car, taking into account the subsidies for purchasing electric cars, will start at 2,990,000 rubles (about 32,330 U.S. dollars).

The president of AvtoVAZ, Maksim Sokolov, said that several dozens of electric cars will be produced by the end of this year. After analyzing the demand and taking into account the development of charging infrastructure in the regions and government support for buyers, further production volumes will be determined.