Expansion of electric vehicles manufacturing in Uzbekistan was discussed at a February 6th government meeting chaired by president Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Mr Mirziyoyev gave an order to speed up projects in the domestic electric vehicle industry, emphasizing the need to establish local production of components in cooperation with the Chinese company BYD, a leading global producer of new energy vehicles and next-generation batteries. Mr Mirziyoyev also urged the industry to develop a network of electric vehicle charging stations in Uzbekistan.
Today eight factories in Uzbekistan manufacture dozens of types of cars, passenger and freight vehicles, agricultural and special machinery.
During his visit to China in January, Mr Mirziyoyev and BYD’s president Wang Chuanfu launched an assembly plant for hybrid and electric vehicles in Uzbekistan’s Jizzakh region, with a production capacity of 50,000 vehicles per year. He also supported BYD’s plans to assemble of its own electric buses in Uzbekistan.
At the February 6th meeting, officials reported that over the past three years sales of electric vehicles in Uzbekistan have increased ten-fold; in 2023, 35% of car imports were electric and hybrid cars.
Uzbekistan’s State Customs Committee earlier said that the country imported 22,490 electric vehicles (EV) worth $582.3m in the first 10 months of 2023, a six-fold increase compared to the same period in 2022. Of these, 20,640 EVs (91.7%) came from China, and the others were imported from the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, the United States, and Germany.
