Since the end of last year, every resident of Latvia can purchase an electric car or a hybrid vehicle with state aid. The amount of funding is up to €4,500, but the biggest problem is that there are virtually no electricity services in Latvia, said auto expert Oskars Irbītis.
“In fact, it is not even possible to maintain older electric vehicles in Latvia. The closest [services] are in Finland, Sweden, some development in Norway, but even in our neighboring countries there are no services specializing in the maintenance of electric vehicles,” said Irbītis.
Andrejs Ogaņesovs, director of the repairs shop “Stars MB” said that there are only one or two places in Latvia with the exception of dealers where electric vehicles can be repaired. Even in dealer services, employees are not always competent to order the relevant parts for vehicles.
“The market is getting bigger, whether it will be a problem and whether it will be handled in terms of services, you cannot say yet. There are few places handling repairs right now, but the situation may change. People will start to realize that all cars need to be serviced, [..],” Ogaņesovs said.
More than 2,000 electric vehicles are currently registered in Latvia.
