Gilan Province signs deal to roll out electric vehicles in six months
Iran's northern Gilan Province signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday to begin producing electric vehicles within the next six months, IRNA reported, during the opening day of the 13th Specialized Automobile Exhibition in the provincial capital of Rasht.
The agreement was signed between the province's industrial parks organization and an electric vehicle manufacturing company. Under the memorandum, electric vehicle production is scheduled to begin in Gilan within six months.
The 13th Specialized Automobile Exhibition of Gilan opened on Tuesday at the Rasht International Exhibition Center in the presence of Governor Hadi Haghshenas.
Speaking to reporters during the opening ceremony, Haqshenas pointed to the country's challenges in the energy and transportation sectors. The exhibition was held with the participation of eight car import companies from the Anzali Free Zone, showcasing imported vehicles with national license plates, free zone plates, and temporary transit permits.
“The use of modern vehicles could help reduce some of these problems, adding that the greater the use of newer and safer vehicles in the country's transportation fleet, the lower the air pollution, the fewer the losses caused by traffic accidents, and the better fuel consumption could be managed,” Haqshenas said. “The governor described the Anzali Free Zone as one of Gilan's key capacities in the automotive sector and said agreements reached between Gilan and the country's northern and northwestern provinces, along with cooperation from the traffic police, had created conditions for increased demand for modern, fuel-efficient foreign vehicles.”
Stressing that moving toward clean transportation was essential, he said the use of electric and low-consumption vehicles, in addition to reducing dependence on fossil fuels, would help preserve Gilan's air quality.
In October 2025, Iran’s second-largest carmaker introduced the country’s first domestically developed Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV), as part of broader efforts to align with global trends in automotive electrification. Separately, the country’s largest automaker had already unveiled a Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV), which it says is in the late stages of development or pre-production.