Lukashenka’s Own Officials Are Making Him Look Ridiculous

There are still many funny episodes to come.

The comedy series called "creation of a domestic electric car" has new episodes: the car will be "presented" in May and will allegedly be launched into serial production next year.

This was recently announced by BelGee CEO Henadz Svidzerski on STV.

Let us recall that the comedy series called "creation of a domestic electric car", initiated personally by Aliaksandr lukashenka, has been running since 2017 and has been extended season after season.

The current scenario is as follows: now they are trying to create a Belarusian electric car based on the "Belarusian" Belgee X50 crossover, which is actually a copy of the already outdated Geely Coolray (they bought the license from the Chinese so that they could have fun).

What's the humor in the new episodes? Firstly, they are trying to convert the model with an internal combustion engine into an "electric car": five prototypes of the Belgee eX50 are being tested, which they promise to complete in April.

What can be said about the prototypes of the Belgee eX50? Nothing good. What will be "presented" in May is not yet entirely clear, but just recently the media described the "Belarusian electric car" as follows: the crossover weighs 1,815 kg, that is, it is 400 kg heavier than the gasoline model Belgee X50, the electric car can accelerate to 130 km / h and is supposedly able to travel up to 400 km on a single battery charge.

Secondly, a lot of humor is associated with the fact that they are trying to create an electric car from Belarusian components. Some officials even claim that the prototypes are already 70% made of domestic parts. In September 2024, the then Prime Minister Raman Halouchanka drew attention to this point, calling "not to deceive either ourselves or the people":

- If we are now talking about the fact that we can take a serial Geely X50 or X70 car and, on its base with body modifications, install imported power electronics elements, a control complex, a battery, an inverter, a traction motor, will it be a Belarusian car or not? Nominally, it will be a Belarusian car, because it was produced in Belarus, using our labor, certain technological operations. This can be done, but this is not the task. In order not to deceive either ourselves, as they say, or the people.

At the same time, Halouchanka said that the designers are only approaching the creation of their "software and hardware complex that controls all the electronics of cars in general."

Thirdly, you can't look at the discussions about what the price of a Belarusian electric car should be without a smile. A few months ago, Svidzerski himself let it slip:

- It's one thing to produce a model that was originally designed as an electric car. It's quite another to remove the gas tank and install other equipment in a car with an internal combustion engine. This could cause an increase in cost compared to competitors.

The developers' dream is for a Belarusian electric car to cost about 30 thousand dollars. Even such a fairly high ceiling seems fantastic.

In February of this year, Deputy Director of the United Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Aliaksandr Bialevich admitted:

- We are working with suppliers, with manufacturers, on how to reach this price. Because if our car costs 40-50 thousand dollars, then no matter what government support measures you include, it will not sell, that is, it will be a one-off product.

Why is the series about the creation of a Belarusian electric car comedic in nature? Not only because, despite all the efforts and promises of the authorities, at the end of each season viewers see that nothing decent has been created - instead of an electric car, a "puff" comes out.

It is also hilarious because it was clear from the start: the idea of creating a new and competitive electric car on the market in the conditions of modern Belarus under Lukashenka's rule is impossible to implement. When the implementation is not carried out by one of the world's automakers, but by underfunded science and an industry experiencing a shortage of investment, the result is extremely predictable.

Therefore, we are in for many more funny episodes, the premiere of the next one is already in May: will the "presentation" take place at all and what will they show at it? What will Svidzerski say, and how will Lukashenka react to another failure (since the crazy idea belongs to him personally, the ruler usually pretends that everything is fine, you just need to give the developers a little more time)?

The continuation of the series, it seems, promises viewers many more "jokes" from officials.

Mark Dziuba, «Solidarity»

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