Iran’s largest automotive company the IKCO says it will import a first batch of electric vehicles (EVs) bought from China’s Dongfeng Motor.
IKCO’s CEO Alimardan Azimi said on Monday that EV imports by the company will amount to 6,000 units until the end of the Iranian calendar year in late March 2024.
Azimi told the IRIB News that most of the EVs will be from models manufactured by Dongfeng, adding that shipments will also include a model from China’s Haima Automobile.
He said that the Iran Khodro Company also plans to import some hybrid models to comply with government regulations on fuel.
The announcement comes days after the unveiling of more than a dozen EV charging stations in the Iranian capital Tehran.
The unveiling came as part of a joint project by Iran’s ministry of industries (MIMT) and the Tehran Municipality to expand the use of EVs in the metropolis.
The project seeks to add some 200,000 electric motorcycles and 50,000 electric cars to Tehran’s inner-city transportation fleet until March.
The MIMT has also ordered domestic carmakers in Iran, including the IKCO and its rival Saipa, to introduce at least one EV model in their range of products in the year to March 2025.
The plans are part of a drive to modernize the Iranian automotive industry and to help control rising demand for motor fuels in the country.
Iran’s daily use of gasoline reached nearly 150 million liters on peak travel days this summer, up significantly from peak demands reported last year.
