Sergei Sobyanin and Denis Manturov assessed the progress of construction of Russia's largest battery factories

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov inspected the construction of two of Russia's largest battery factories located in the capital.

On an area of over 34 hectares, Russia's first cluster for the production of electricity storage systems is being formed, which will satisfy almost all the needs of the domestic market for modern batteries.

"Thank you for taking the time to see how such a large systemic industry is developing, which is, in fact, new to Russia, a new cluster — gigafactories for the production of rechargeable batteries. Thank you so much for systematically supporting this project from the beginning of its inception, from the beginning of the idea. For its full implementation, we need, of course, the continuation of the policy of supporting the domestic manufacturer, the technological sovereignty of the country. This, of course, depends on the regulatory framework that exists in our country, in terms of the import, export and consumption of our domestic products," Sergei Sobyanin said.

The First Deputy Prime Minister stressed that this area is fully synchronized with key national priorities. Electricity storage systems are an integral element of the national project "New Nuclear and Energy Technologies". In addition, the development of chemical processing for the needs of the industry meets the objectives of the national project "New Materials and Chemistry".

"Today, without the production of storage systems, it is impossible to imagine the development of energy. The potential of their application is huge: This includes improving the reliability of urban networks, developing electric transport, and providing autonomous energy supply to remote areas. Energy storage technologies are becoming the basis for the formation of a qualitatively new model of energy consumption. In five years, the combined capacity of Russian manufacturers should reach more than 12 gigawatt-hours, which will cover most of the country's needs. It is equally important that the localization of storage production gives a powerful impetus to related industries," said Denis Manturov.

We are talking about stimulating the chemical and metallurgical industries by producing cathode and anode materials, electrolytes, and separators. A full-fledged chain of high-tech suppliers is being formed around the production of storage devices.

Today, about 35 percent of the cost of electric vehicles is a traction battery. Localization of battery production will reduce the cost and increase the economic attractiveness of using electric vehicles. This will stimulate the expansion of domestic production of electric vehicles and have a positive impact on the environmental situation in Moscow.

The expansion of lithium-ion battery production will contribute to increasing the export potential of the Russian economy and the development of new technologies in related fields, including in the field of microprocessor technology, the chemical industry, the manufacture of high-tech materials, electronics, communication systems, transport and space technologies.

"After reaching the design capacity, the plants will be able to produce up to 33 million battery cells per year. Thanks to the cluster approach, they will work in cooperation and exchange competencies," Sergei Sobyanin added in his channel in the MAX messenger.