The assembly of Chinese electric cars in Engels will be carried out by the former Criminal Code, close to the State Department Kremnev

As BV found out, the company was recently renamed, as well as a number of LLCs associated with it. All of them are affiliated with the family of Georgy Kamnev, a State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The source of funds for a large-scale project is not visible.

– The company planned to launch production in the second quarter of this year, and already in the third quarter the first car should roll off the assembly line. In 2023, it is planned to assemble up to 2,000 electric vehicles specifically for taxi and car sharing. The model, in cooperation with the Chinese leader of the automotive industry FAW, will be produced under the Alfarus brand, – Mr. Busargin said in his TG channel.

The head of the region tested the car, noting “interesting decisions of designers on the exterior and interior.”

– For example, the back door is made automatic on the right side to make it comfortable for passengers to get into a taxi. This is a comfortable car with the most modern technical solutions, all the necessary security systems are provided. In addition to standard wired charging, it is possible to replace removable batteries in a few minutes and continue driving. In general, the charge is enough for 420 kilometers, Busargin said.

In his opinion, this is a “key project” for the Saratov region, especially since investors are further setting the task of localizing production with the supply of components – electronics, plastic and glass elements – from enterprises in the region. At the same time, in addition to the cars themselves, at the Engels site of the former RosBytKhim plant, Yevgeny Shlychkov is “going to make” batteries and charging stations.

Since we are talking about localization only in the future, the work will apparently look like this: in the PRC, each car is dismantled and packaged, and in Russia such car kits are reassembled. And this is also called production.

Let’s look at what the “key” investor for the region is like.

Investor from Penza

Alfa Tech was born in July last year. And this is not a new company: it has been operating since 2010 under the name of MasterDom Management Company LLC. True, in the fall of 2019 they tried to bankrupt it because of a tax debt in the amount of 608 thousand rubles, and in April 2022 the Federal Tax Service was going to exclude the company from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities in connection with an inactive legal entity.

In July, the persons concerned petitioned for the termination of the expulsion procedure. The LLC was again recognized as operating, followed by a change of name and address in Penza. The main activity was also changed – instead of real estate management, the production of vehicles became.

At the same time, the founder and CEO of Alfa Tech changed. However, BV found out that this was a formality – the company has so far remained affiliated with the former management. So, at the end of July last year, Peter Kamnev left the founders – this is the father of Georgy Kamnev, the current deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. His place was taken by Ekaterina Kartashova.

Since 2016, she has owned Alfa Logistic in Penza (car trade, revenue for 2021 – 0 rubles). Since October last year, she has been the owner and general director of Alfa Energy LLC (maintenance and car repair), and since November, Alfa Point LLC (production of electric accumulators and batteries). Alfa Tech registered the rights to the ALFARUSELECTROMODEL trademark in November.

Ms. Kartashova remains connected with Petr Kamnev through Gorodskaya UK LLC: here the businesswoman is the founder, and Kamnev is the general director and liquidator since November last year – the company is going bankrupt at the request of Sabay LLC. This company, through former employees of Municipal Unitary Enterprise “Zhilservice”, may be connected with the “City Management Company”, colleagues from Penza believe.

– The company of Mr. Kamnev worked according to the old proven scheme, – journalists of the “First Penza Portal” write. The manager collected funds from the tenants to pay utility bills. However, this money allegedly did not reach utility providers, the publication suggests.
According to colleagues, in the fall, the prosecutor’s office began checking this manager. Last year, it also became known about the debts in the amount of allegedly 16 million rubles and the former MasterDom Management Company. According to the publication, she allegedly also accumulated debts to suppliers and was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Who is Ms. Kartashova?

Ekaterina Kartashova has also been associated with the work of several management companies for the last 10 years. In 2012, she was an individual entrepreneur in Serdobsk, Penza, for several months, doing accounting and auditing. In 2016, she became the general director of another management company – LLC “UK No. 1”, holding out in the chair for about 9 months. She remained in the co-founders longer – until mid-December 2022. This UK is not going bankrupt yet.

From mid-2016 to November 2017, she was a co-founder of Uyut Plus Management Company, and Philip Kartashov was her company. In 2021, information about the Criminal Code was found to be unreliable and it was liquidated. Finally, since 2016, Ms. Kartashova has been the founder of Conex Group LLC, which is engaged in legal activities. The company was liquidated in 2018.

Where does the money come from?

A lot of money is really spinning in the housing and communal services, and, probably, only law enforcement officers will be able to find out whether the above-mentioned managers under the leadership of Kamnev Sr. were involved in the withdrawal of residents’ money. However, there is already a stain on the reputation, albeit renamed “Alpha Tech”.

However, even the involvement of two UK companies in the work does not answer the question about investments in the Engels production of electric cars. Neither Busargin nor representatives of Alfa Tech have yet said how much it will cost to launch it. However, we can assume that we are talking about not one hundred million rubles, if not billions.

Does State Duma deputy Georgy Kamnev, whose father, Pyotr Kamnev, manage bankrupt and renamed managers, have such funds? His official income for 2021 amounted to about 2.6 million rubles, and over the past 10 years, his annual income has not exceeded 3.5 million rubles at all. The sums are beautiful, but obviously insufficient to start production. Moreover, the deputy is a father of many children.

Government subsidies

However, given the state’s interest in the revival of the domestic auto industry, even in the form of Chinese car kits, it is possible that investors in this area can receive serious subsidies.

It is not for nothing that the government of the Russian Federation approved a “road map” for the development of production and use of electric transport. It is assumed that by 2030 the share of electric vehicles in the total production of vehicles will reach 10%. And by that time, at least 72,000 charging stations should be operating in the country.

Four of them are already in the Saratov region, and in October the Saratov Ministry of Industry reported that they were talking about including the region among the pilot ones in this area.

“Given the strategic importance of the development of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in the Saratov region, the regional government is working with potential investors in the construction of charging stations,” said then Deputy Chairman – Minister of Industry and Energy Andrey Arkhipov.

Recall that in the agreement with Alfa Tech, in addition to the production of electric vehicles themselves, we are talking about the production of electric charging stations.

Subscription Battery

However, the investor can also receive money for the know-how perfect for the Russian market – the production of removable charging modules for an electric car.

As the Chinese Automobiles portal notes, one of the “chips” of the FAW electric van is the traction battery fast charging system, which allows replenishing the energy supply from 20 to 80% in just half an hour.

– In addition, it is possible not to wait at all, but to replace an empty battery with a full one in just three minutes at a special station. This method of “refueling” electric vehicles is gradually gaining popularity in China. In addition to tangible time savings when replenishing battery energy, it allows you to significantly save on the car itself, the source states.
In this case, the BaaS (Battery as a Service) option becomes available to the buyer: the client buys an electric car without a battery at all, and he draws up a “subscription” rental agreement for the battery and simply pays small monthly fees. Recall that Alfa Tech intends to engage in the production of storage batteries. It is possible that this will happen in cooperation with the scientific center of the Saratov “Plant of Autonomous Current Sources”.

Reference. The base for the Saratov electric car Alfarus is the FAW Bestune NAT electric van. It was developed in China in 2021 specifically for taxi and car sharing. The name NAT just stands for Next Automatic Taxi. At home, the car is in demand in taxi services like T3 Chixing and DiDi Chuxing. The latter tried to enter Saratov as well. The dimensions of the electric vehicle are 4450 x 1840 x 1680 mm with a wheelbase of 2850 mm. The volume of the luggage compartment is 454 liters. In the local market, NAT is equipped with a 136 hp electric motor without alternative. and 260 Nm, which limits the maximum speed of the minivan to 140 km/h. There can be two traction batteries to choose from – with a capacity of 53 or 55 kWh. Depending on this, the declared mileage of the FAW Bestune ranges from 401 to 419 km (NEDC). Bestune NAT’s options list includes 17-inch wheels, dual airbags, tire pressure monitoring system, ABS, EBD, ESP, cruise control, digital instrument cluster, 10-inch multimedia screen, rear parking sensors and rear view camera. , braking energy recovery system, built-in video recorder, LED optics, air conditioning with air purification system. The cost in the Chinese market is from 147.8 to 164.8 thousand yuan (1.46-1.63 million rubles). In Russia, the estimated cost of electric cars starts from 3.5 million rubles.