The front lines of electrification have spread to some seemingly-unlikely parts of the world, for various reasons. In Russia, the country’s war on Ukraine has resulted in major disruptions to the supply of refined oil products, boosting the demand for EVs. And, as elsewhere in the world, it’s mostly Chinese automakers that are meeting that demand.

The New York Times reports that the number of electrified vehicles (including hybrids), sold in Russia grew from 43,000 in the January-to-August period of 2025 to more than 83,000 over the same period this year, according to the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Tthe share of plug-in vehicles (EVs and PHEVs) recently reached 11.5 percent of the Russian car market, up from about 5 percent at the beginning of the year, according to auto research agency Avtostat. The EV market share in Russia is now slightly higher than in the US—but a mere fraction of China’s 45 percent.

Russian auto industry expert Sergei Tselikov told the Times that in July, as Ukrainian drone strikes against oil refineries left drivers across the country waiting for hours at gas stations, he bought a Chinese electric hatchback.

“I tried to fill up one of my cars and drove around to five nearby gas stations, but they had only diesel or lower-grade petrol,” he said.

To try to address the shortages, the government is allowing the sale of lower-grade gasoline and diesel—which are not healthy nourishment for cars. The manager of a Moscow repair shop told the Times that he had recently serviced 15 vehicles with clogged diesel soot filters, a problem caused by the cheap fuel.

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