Ecology, Energy, Estonia, Transport

Taavi Rõivas at the meeting with the delegation from Mitsubishi. Tallinn, 10.07.2015. Photo: valitsus.ee

The cooperation with Mitsubishi began from the successful sale of pollution quota, resulting in 507 Mitsubishi electric cars and an extensive charging network reaching Estonia. Prime Minister Rõivas thanked the representatives of Mitsubishi for the cooperation and expressed his hopes in continuing the cooperation as well as extending it to other areas.

In the view of Minister Rõivas, the project of electric vehicles has facilitated a more environmentally sound mind-set and encouraged Estonian people to buy more sustainable vehicles.

“Thanks to the successful cooperation with Mitsubishi in 2011–2013, a unique project was launched – an infrastructure for charging electric cars covering the entire Estonian territory with 250 charging stations, and supplying the employees of social and other departments of Estonian local governments with hundreds of Mitsubishi electric cars,” said Prime Minister Rõivas. “I hope that our current experience will encourage us to find more areas for cooperation.”

The expenses of the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles will be covered by the Mitsubishi Corporation until 2020. After that, the expenses shall depend on how many vehicles are charged. To ensure the sustainability and profitability of maintaining the infrastructure, the Government is interested in increasing the number of electric cars on Estonian roads.

As another important step for encouraging the purchasing of electric vehicles, Rõivas highlighted the decision to allow driving electric vehicles on public transport lanes.

“Considering the congestion on the streets of the capital, this will significantly facilitate traffic,” said Prime Minister Rõivas.

The groundwork for the successful cooperation with Mitsubishi was laid by the previous Adviser to the Prime Minister and current Member of the Riigikogu Anne Sulling. In the view of Sulling, Estonian cooperation with Mitsubishi has so far been profitable and therefore, options for extending the cooperation are being sought.