March 25, 2022
A small Iranian carmaker has announced it will begin selling Iran’s first all-electric vehicle in May. KSJ Motors, based in Shiraz, said the two-seater car, named Oxygen, will have a price tag of 2.7 billion rials ($10,400 at the open market rate of 260,000 rials to the dollar) and be the cheapest electric vehicle in the world. (That’s not true. Since 2020, a Chinese firm has sold the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV for the equivalent of $4,540 to $6,850, depending on the model.)
The Iranian firm said it would produce 1,000 cars in the current Persian year with production rising to 10,000 units in the third year. It said the car will have a range of 220 kilometers (137 miles) with each charge. Cars will presumably have to be charged at home, as the country does not yet have a national charging system. KSJ Motors said only 20 percent of the parts would need to be imported.
