The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Ukraine’s largest international financial investor, wants to help Ukraine develop its sustainable car market.
The EBRD loaned $20 million euros ($24 million) to automotive importer Winner Group to update its facilities and help the company invest in electric vehicles, according to the bank’s press release published on Aug. 6.
Winner Group, Ukraine’s oldest automotive importer founded in 1992, will also use the loan to build new energy-efficient car dealerships, adding up to the 47 it already operates in the country.
This loan is the company’s first EBRD loan and will also be used to build a “green” collision repair center, the first of its kind, in Kyiv.
It is a step towards cleaner cities in Ukraine according to Matteo Patrone, the EBRD’s regional managing director.
“This will eventually lead to cleaner streets, making cities a better place for pedestrians and cyclists too,” he wrote in the press release.
Ukraine’s electric car market has shown significant growth in recent years.
The first electric cars started appearing only in 2012-2013 in the country, but over 20,000 electric cars were registered at the end of 2020 in Ukraine, a 375% increase since 2018, according to Ukraine Invest.
Read also: Ukraine showing electric growth in this car market
The majority of these vehicles remain secondhand imports from the U.S., Winner Group’s top import destination.
Ukraine has the biggest number of public charging points compared to its nearest EU countries – over 8,500 (a 57% increase in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019).
But much of the country’s existing charging stations are too weak to reliably charge the higher-capacity batteries of newer electric cars within a reasonable timeframe, experts told the Kyiv Post back in October 2019.
The EBRD committed nearly 340 million euros to local green initiatives in 2020.
Out of the EBRD’s 812 million euros invested in 34 enterprises in Ukraine in 2020, almost half was dedicated to projects that promote more rational use of energy.
The bank had already invested 1.1 billion in the country in 2019. To date, the bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost 14.5 billion euros through 486 projects in Ukraine.
