In the family of business consultant Azamat Attokurov, an electric car was acquired in 2023. Since then, he analysed its advantages: fuel savings, environmental friendliness, and the ability to charge at home.

According to him, charging for four days costs only 100 soms ($1.13), whereas previously, refueling the car cost 2,000 soms ($22.6) per week. Other advantages include a new interior and availability of spare parts in case of breakdowns.

Therefore, he won't use the electric car to go to Issyk-Kul lake during the peak tourist season or to Osh to avoid queues at electric charging stations (ECS). But there is a solution for such cases too: temporarily exchange cars with his brother.

According to the state agency "Uyana" as of April 15, 2024, more than 3,000 electric vehicles are registered in Kyrgyzstan. Although according to the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC), in 2023 alone, almost 10,000 such cars were imported into the country, mostly from China. Experts explain the difference, by the fact that many people bring electric vehicles into the country, but do not register and immediately send them for re-export.

Over the five years (2019-2023), according to the Department of Strategic Planning of the Ministry of Economy, Kyrgyzstan imported about 12,000 electric vehicles. In addition to China, according to the National Statistical Committee's statistics, cars are also imported from Lithuania, the United States, Korea, Japan, Georgia, Estonia, and Germany.

Given that one of the intensive sources of air pollution is motor vehicles with internal combustion engines, officials have repeatedly talked about the need to increase electric transport in the country and create the appropriate infrastructure.

The state began purchasing electric vehicles for ministries; 120 electric buses were purchased to update the public transport network in Bishkek; a project to create municipal electric taxis has been launched in the capital; construction of a plant has begun, including for the assembly of electric vehicles, in the Sokuluk district of the Chui region. A law has been passed granting incentives for the use of a special green state registration number plate for electric vehicles.

By the decision of the EEC Council, a tariff quota was allocated in the form of duty-free import of electric vehicles into the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic for 2022-2025 in the amount of 10 thousand units per year.

The MEC also noted that since 2023, active work has been started to form a charging infrastructure network. The city of Bishkek has been identified as a pilot, and as part of the project, barriers have been removed, some administrative procedures have been reduced, and the deadlines for issuing necessary documents have been shortened. Instead of 187 working days, documents were issued within 35 days. As a result, private companies, with administrative support, installed more than 70 fast charging stations. Now the project is being scaled across the country.

Considering the growing popularity of electric vehicles, charging stations have been installed on the Bishkek – Karakol (7 locations) and Bishkek – Osh (1 location) highways. Around 10 ECS locations have been installed in the southern capital. The second stage involves planning the installation of stations in other cities of the country. Within two years, it is planned to install at least 100 additional ECS points, especially along popular tourist routes.

In the context of transitioning to electric transport, the question of future battery disposal occasionally arises. However, no specific measures have been proposed.

He noted that the history of electric cars is almost 20 years. Hence, it is necessary to accumulate a large quantity of batteries somewhere first, before disposal becomes profitable. He explained that batteries do not outlive their life suddenly; their degradation happens gradually, with cassette replacements. For instance, if a block consists of 24 cassettes and one malfunctions, only that one needs a replacement.

He emphasized that he is willing to pay for battery recycling and give cassettes away for free to make it profitable for recyclers.

Temirbek Shabdanaliev has also recently been driving an electric car. According to him, the issue of replacement, repair, or maintenance is not a concern, but such infrastructure is needed in Kyrgyzstan.

According to Oleg Pechenyuk, director of the Independent Environmental Expertise NGO, there is no company in Kyrgyzstan that deals with battery recycling. Consumers cannot even recycle ordinary batteries.

In this regard, the expert fears that used electric vehicle batteries will mostly end up in landfills, and they will go out of service much faster than declared by the manufacturers, given the harsh continental climate in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Secondly, we need to issue recycling fees for electric vehicle components, and it should be higher for older cars.

According to the Methodology for Determination of Environmental Pollution Charges in the Kyrgyz Republic, it is necessary to pay for temporary waste storage.

According to the Regional Monitoring of Electronic Waste in the CIS and Georgia, Kyrgyzstan generated 10 thousand tons of electronic waste in 2019, or 1.5 kg per person. However, the level of official collection and recycling of electronic waste is extremely low, around 0.1%.

Electronic waste does not decompose over time and contains toxic substances. It ranks among the most challenging types of waste to recycle and reuse.

According to Oleg Pechenyuk, there is currently no up-to-date statistics available on this issue.

Oleg Pechenyuk noted that the problem of waste disposal in the country has been acute for the past several years. According to his data, out of 405 landfills across the republic, none fully complies with national legislation.