Electric vehicle sales in Russia grew by 84% from a small base in the first nine months of 2026, while the total new vehicle market grew just 5%, with suspended financing subsidies and high borrowing costs threatening further gains, the Association of European Businesses said on Oct. 5.
Total sales of new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles increased 4.98% to 967,996 units in January-September, up 45,963 vehicles from the same period of 2025. This is according to figures from Passport Industrial Consulting (PPK), an analytics firm using Russia’s electronic vehicle passport data.
EVs accounted for 1.1% of the market, compared with 0.6% a year earlier. Their sales increased by 4,816 units from 5,754 in January-September 2025, making them one of the fastest-growing engine categories in percentage terms. The gain is about one-tenth of the overall market’s net increase in vehicle sales, although their share of total purchases was still small.
Russia’s EV growth is likely spurred by the availability of imported and locally assembled Chinese-designed, Russian-badged cars such as Evolute, which markets both electric and hybrid models.
“In the third quarter of 2026, the market demonstrated relatively stable dynamics, reflecting continued demand, although it is still too early to speak of sustainable growth,” said Alexey Kalitsev, chairman of the Automobile Manufacturers Committee — part of Russia’s international automobile producers and importers association.
Fuel shortages and rising gasoline prices may also be boosting EV demand as drivers contend with rising fuel costs and lengthening lines at filling stations. Since the first widely reported Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian oil refinery at Novoshakhtinsk in June 2022, Russian retail gasoline prices have risen by about 55% and diesel by 60%. Recent Ukrainian attacks have exacerbated fuel shortages and led to restrictions on exports. Russia’s lubricant market has also seen price and supply shocks from drone strikes, sanctions, exiting international blenders and disruption to supply chains.