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Lukashenko: 'Belkommunmash is an example to many.' Success story of Belarus' EV maker
Aleksandr Lukashenko visits Belkommunmash, January 2009
When speaking at the Belarusian People's Congress in 2010, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned the domestic manufacturer of passenger transport vehicles Belkommunmash. The head of state recalled that in Soviet times it was an ordinary repair shop for trams and trolleybuses that were produced in Russia and Latvia and supplied to Belarus. For the past 30 years, the company has reached a brand new level. It fully provides the domestic market with passenger transport vehicles and does well in foreign markets. “This company is an unmatched producer in Europe and the former Soviet Union. No one can compete with it. All the speculations that our capacities are outdated, that we are ‘running on the Soviet legacy' are idle talk by narrow-minded people who understand nothing about economics," the president said then.
This year Belkommunmash, also known as BKM Holfing, celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. How did an ordinary repair shop turn into the largest manufacturer of passenger electric transport in the post-Soviet space? Why did Aleksandr Lukashenko visit Belarusian enterprises weekly during the global financial crisis? Did the president's focus on the development of electric transport justify itself? Let's talk about these things.
When did Belarus begin to produce trolleybuses in Belarus?
The history of Belkommunmash began in 1973 when a tram and trolleybus repair plant was set up in Minsk. It was an ordinary workshop to repair equipment from other Soviet republics. Therefore, it is not surprising that the company was pretty unremarkable unlike other Belarusian machine-building factories that made a breakthrough back then. For two decades, the plant repaired vehicles from Russia and Latvia. But the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent rupture of economic ties left the company in dire straits. The factory managed to keep it together. The first Belarusian trolleybus rolled off the assembly line in 1994. But the outlook was still dim.
A year later, Aleksandr Lukashenko, who had just become the head of state, visited the enterprise. The situation at Belkommunmash was, without exaggeration, critical. The measures taken at that time on the instruction of the president saved the plant.
“I joined the company sometime in the 1980s. Back then, everything was primitive. The 1990s were a difficult period not only for our plant, but also for the country, and other former USSR republics. Many ties were disrupted, many enterprises stood idle. But we tried to survive. We took on any job. The plant even got us engaged in other sectors to keep us paid, to retain the team. It was difficult, but the plant was operational. It was the first time that the president came to visit us. He walked down the central aisle, a machining shop. The impression was good. He asked questions about everything. He toured the plant and examined everything,” said Oleg Mazhaisky, operator of computer-controlled machines.
At the turn of the new millennium, Belkommunmash designed the low-floor trolleybus with an induction engine, which was an innovative project for Belarus and the post-Soviet space. Model 321 is the most popular low-floor trolleybus... in the world. The very first vehicle went to Riga. Such is the irony: once the Minsk plant repaired Latvian trams, and over time it began to supply advanced passenger vehicles there.
How did Belarusian enterprises deal with the crisis?
In the 2000s, when the financial crisis was raging in the world, the company, like other plants, faced a choice of what to do next - to optimize costs, freeze activity or take advantage of the situation to grow and conquer markets. Belkommunmash chose the third way. The crisis is a time of opportunities, the Belarusian president continuously emphasizes.
“We really struggled in the 1990s. I just got married and gave birth to a child. We remember all these food stamps, food banks for children. We produced special-purpose equipment, mixers. I was an electroplater and did galvanizing works: zinc plating, nickel plating and chrome plating of component parts. It felt rewarding to see how component parts changed color and looked completely different after coating. The situation started changing for the better in 1995, when we branched out into production of trolleybuses. Things really took off then. The past two years have been a very busy period for the company. I'm retired, but I continue working. I like everything, I'm happy with what I do. I dropped galvanic works to become work distributor. Whenever I use public transport, be it a trolleybus or a tram, I think of the component parts that I electroplated, and it makes me very proud of my work,” said Galina Bondar, work distributor at the heat treatment and casting section.
In 2007 the company rolled out the Vitovt trolleybus. The state-of-the-art design was complemented by an impressive set of under-the-hood things: one and a half dozen microprocessors that controlled the same number of electronic units, a satellite-based GPS, self-diagnosis with a color monitor in the cockpit, automatic temperature and lighting control, composite cladding. Back then all this seemed ultra-modern, and the futuristic design only enhanced this impression.
A couple of years later, the president visited the enterprise again. Aleksandr Lukashenko inspected the production facilities and talked with workers and engineers. The head of state emphasized that one should learn from Belkommunmash how to operate in difficult conditions.
“I like what I have seen at the enterprise; a lot has changed since I was here in 1995. It was a repair shop back then where they removed rust from bodies of trams and trolleybuses, tuned them up and sent them back. Now the company is creating most advanced vehicles. I was pleasantly surprised that the director already has real contracts rather than plans or ideas, which will enable the company to ramp up production this year. It's nice that in these conditions, the company is able to translate plans into contracts. Therefore, one really needs to learn from them how to work in difficult conditions,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he visited the company in early 2009.
How did Belarus start making electric buses
Over time, Belkommunmash decided to launch the production of electric buses, which was quite a daring idea back then. The novel vehicle appeared on Minsk streets at the end of 2016. Thus, Minsk became the first city in the former USSR to use electric buses in passenger transportation. Foreign partners got immediately interested in this project. This could not have happened if not for the head of state.
“By the way, the president has told me today that our mechanical engineering products are in great demand in the region. A new environmentally friendly type of public transport - an electric bus - is undergoing tests in Minsk. It demonstrates good technical and economic performance. Tajikistan's specialists have been invited to study its operational capabilities. After all, literally in a year or two you will have excess electricity,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said at his meeting with President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon in December 2017.
At that time the battery capacity and charging system was enough for the electric bus to cover the distance of up to 300km per day.
“We started small. Now we've reached this level. It's gratifying to know that I contributed to it. And it's good for the city to have modern, beautiful transport,” said Oleg Mazhaisky, operator of computer-controlled machines.
The enterprise's designs drew the attention of Stadler, the world's leading producer of electric transport. In 2014, the production of new railway transport started near Minsk. Stadler partnered with Belkommunmash that invested in the new company and transferred its management and about a third of its employees to the new factory. Over time, Stadler bought the Belarusian stake to become the only owner of the facility.
Aleksandr Lukashenko demanded that production be maintained, and Stadler promised to help its colleagues reach a modern technological level. Yet, these promises never went beyond words. At some point the Swiss changed their mind and wriggled out of the deal.
What does Belkommunmash develop today?
Today Belkommunmash is the leading manufacturer of urban electric transport in Belarus and the largest one in the CIS. Belarusian trolleybuses and electric buses operate in almost 50 regions of the CIS and non-CIS countries. The geography covers the entire territory of Russia from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. Urban electric transport from Belarus is well-known in Ukraine, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Moldova, Bulgaria, and even Argentina. The company continues to work to increase exports to traditional markets and also explores the potential to sell to Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
“I graduated from Belarusian National Technical University with a degree in economics and industrial management. I had a summer internship here, and later returned to the company for my pre-graduation internship. I passed the interview and got the job. Since I did my internship here, I saw that it was a developing and promising company. Everything lived up to my expectations. I like my job, but, of course, there is still something to strive for, something to develop and something new to learn. I am glad that I came here,” young specialist, logistics engineer Anastasia Bochkova said.
The plant has designed many models in recent years. For example, BKM Holding's latest development - the first Vitovt Truck Electro Prime electric truck – rolled off the line in 2022. The electric components, as in the case of electric buses, are of domestic production. These are inverters, DC converters, electric circuit protection and circuit control units, and necessary software. Some components are from European manufacturers. In today's situation, the Belarusian plant is yet to decide how to replace these parts. As the representatives of the plant say, the Belarusian truck has its potential customers.
BKM Holding has also implemented another long-awaited project - a low-floor tram. The plant has even more ambitious plans. BKM Holding aims to launch the production of hydrogen vehicles in the near future.
“The topic of hydrogen vehicles, both commercial and passenger ones, is widely-discussed at the highest level in the Russian Federation. We must be ready for this turn of events and keep up with our friends and competitors. Electric transport is the most promising option in passenger transportation (and in the commercial one as well). However, since the battery has a limited capacity, we can ensure that the vehicle can go some 200km with one charge. This mileage is not very popular with customers as buses can travel up to 300-350km per day. This option is currently possible only with the introduction of electric bus models with express charging. For this, there is a need to develop charging infrastructure at the final stops, which is not always feasible. By equipping the electric bus with hydrogen fuel cells, we will be able to meet these requirements,” BKM Holding Deputy Director General for Innovative Development Oleg Bytsko said.
Why does the president demand to switch to electric transport?
A few years ago, Aleksandr Lukashenko set the task for Minsk to gradually switch to electric transport. “We need to phase out internal combustion engines because this poses health risks to our people,” the president emphasized. Given a nuclear power plant and advanced design bureaus in the country, this task seems quite feasible.
Belarus is also following the global trends in electric mobility. The number of electric cars on the country's roads has noticeably increased in recent years. Incentive measures taken at the level of the head of state have contributed to the fact. The measures include benefits for electric car owners and a growing charging network. Belarus has built some 700 charging stations by now. Belarus has the highest number of charging stations in the CIS.
“We will be switching to electric transport. We have built a nuclear power plant after all. It is the most cost-effective kind of fuel. We will be pressing forward in this direction. We need electric vehicles. Starting with cars and ending with buses and the rest. I pay close attention to it. We started putting efforts into it a long time ago and it was the right decision,” the head of state said this year.
The success of Belkommunmash, once an ordinary repair shop as the president called it, is not due to luck or good fortune. It is due to the ability to look beyond the horizon and see new prospects. It is due to great efforts of engineers, designers, scientists and workers. The key to success is simple: make a decision and act.
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