Kazakhstan
Uncertain Future
What is Kazakhstan planning to do with electric batteries that have reached the end of their lifespan?
Denis Dudnikov from Almaty bought a Chinese electric car Zeekr 001 in 2023 and thus became "part of a trend".This trend reflects a significant shift, as Kazakh consumers have started to actively buy Chinese vehicles (electric cars and cars with internal combustion engines).
"While in 2022 three of the top ten best-selling brands were Chinese, in 2023 the picture has changed dramatically – now only four out of ten brands are non-Chinese," writes kursiv.media in its review," writes kursiv.media in its review.
Market participants note that the growing interest in Chinese cars among Kazakh consumers is due to their optimal balance of price and quality.
Denis Dudnikov confirms this: "I needed to upgrade my car, so I started looking around. The price of the Zeekr 001 was very attractive; similar cars with comparable features cost several times more."
Electric cars were attractive for one more reason: they are much cheaper to operate than those with an internal combustion engine, which turns into a "money vacuum cleaner" because of the need to change oil, plugs, filters, and other maintenance items.
"You only need to spend on electricity. It is much more economical than gasoline," points out Denis Dudnikov, highlighting the advantage of electric vehicles.

He plans to sell the electric car in a few years, so he has not think of battery disposal and is unprepared to pay for its recycling.
"The batteries, with proper use, will last for 20 years. Therefore, this issue falls on the final owner," he explains his position. "The government has provided incentives for importing electric cars, so they [state representatives] should be able to recycle the battery."

Indeed, Kazakhstan incentivizes the import of electric vehicles.

“Electric Cars” Have Gone Up

The last five years in Kazakhstan can be divided into two periods regarding the number of registered electric vehicles. Initially, there was a slow decline in the number of electric cars: in 2019, there were 613, 2020 - 550, and 2021 - 491. Then, a sharp rise began: in 2022, the statistics recorded a 65.4% increase with 812 electric cars. In 2023, something unprecedented happened—the number of electric vehicles skyrocketed by 9.2 times, from 914 to 8366 units.
Experts attribute this surge in consumer demand to the decision of the EAEU, which includes Kazakhstan, to extend the duty-free import period for electric vehicles until the end of 2025.
"The duty exemption allows saving 15% of the customs value of the car (originally introduced in 2020- ed). According to Artur Miskaryan, an auto expert and director of the Agency for Monitoring and Analysis of the Automobile Market of Kazakhstan, the quota for Kazakhstan last year [2023] was 15,000 electric cars, and during the year it was only half utilized," energyprom.kz wrote.
Analysts from Freedom Finance Global, who studied the automobile market in Kazakhstan in 2023, suggest that the main imported electric car model is the sports model Zeekr 001, produced by the Chinese company Geely.
"An important point in counting imports is that Zeekr was not officially introduced in Kazakhstan until August 2023, so all cars imported before that may not have been included in the statistics," clarify the researchers.

Photo: Ilya Kim

Another incentive for using electric cars is the government's efforts to create appropriate infrastructure. In 2017, a pilot project to create a network of electric charging stations started in Astana and Almaty. The operator of this government project notes that as of today, there are 51 charging stations in the capital of Kazakhstan and 52 in Almaty. Additionally, private individuals and companies are installing charging stations. Kazakhstan also has super-fast charging stations, such as six Tesla Superchargers in the capital.

In 2023, the government approved a Roadmap for creating the necessary infrastructure for electric vehicles in all the republic's major cities by 2029. According to the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development, the Roadmap includes regulatory and technical requirements for the design and construction of necessary infrastructure and local production of equipment for charging electric vehicles. Officials also aim to implement various mechanisms to encourage people to use electric cars and related infrastructure more actively.

After the "Death"

Kazakhstan has been encouraging its citizens to use electric cars for several years now. However, does the republic have plans to utilize and recycle electric car batteries?

Mikhail Kventis, an expert in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, asserts that the issue of lithium-ion battery recycling in Kazakhstan arises periodically. "I would even say sporadically," clarifies the expert. "When someone 'upstairs' raises the issue, there is some activity, public discussion flares up, and then the issue fades away on its own."
He recalls that in 2017 the Ministry of Energy first became concerned about this issue – what to do with lithium-ion batteries in general and electric vehicle batteries in particular. For instance, if a battery is damaged in an accident, how should it be disposed of?

"In theory, recycling an electric vehicle battery is fundamentally no different from recycling a mobile phone or laptop battery. It is just that in an electric vehicle there are more elements – like a thousand laptops assembled in one place, in one casing," Mikhail Kventis analogizes.
He notes that Kazakhstan still lacks even basic rules for exploitation of lithium-ion batteries, which would detail out how to collect, store, identify risks, and process disposal.
"For five years now, we (experts and eco-activists) have been raising these issues at all hearings on electric vehicles, trying to draw attention to this problem, even involving the infamous ROP (Extended Producer Responsibility operator, which accumulates disposal fees in its accounts and redistributes them to various eco-projects), but with little success," says Mikhail Kventis regretfully.
He suggests that the Kazakh government should issue clear and motivating rules for collecting, storing, and recycling lithium-ion batteries (not only from electric vehicles but from all lithium-ion batteries).
"We need to help organize either the export of lithium-ion batteries for recycling or the import of lithium-ion batteries for recycling in Kazakhstan for further export of raw materials for battery production," proposes Kventis.
It turns out that the government already has plans in this regard. Currently under consideration is a plan where ROP operator funds will be directed toward battery recycling and disposal. Vice-Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mansur Oshurbayev revealed this to Tengrinews.kz. According to him, a plant will be built for this purpose.
"The Ministry plans to conduct an analysis to study international experience in lithium-ion battery recycling for electric vehicles, as well as attract an investor to build a lithium-ion battery recycling plant in the Republic of Kazakhstan," he said.

The ROP operator (currently represented by the state-owned enterprise "Zhasyl damu") did not provide specific details to CABAR.asia about plans for electric battery disposal.
Alexey Alexeev, chief editor of the magazine "Za Rulyom" (behind the wheel) in Kazakhstan, suggests looking at the situation from a completely different perspective.
"Electric cars will account for 10% of all vehicles,"Alexeyev suggests and adds:, "A modern gasoline car is not as harmful as commonly believed. We should not fight against cars or transition to electric cars. We need to think about how and what to do to have a more modern fleet of vehicles in our country."

Authors:

Anastasiya Bengard (Kyrgyzstan)
Elina Beknazaroba (Uzbekistan)
CABAR.asia

Editors:

Natalya Li
Tatiana Trubacheva
Lola Olimova
Gulafshon Sokieva
Marat Mamadshoev

Illustrations:

Nasiba Karimova


Layout:

Manizha Babakulova


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