Kama Atom (electric car)

Main article: Electric vehicles

The project of the Russian company "Kama" to create an electric car. "Atom" is declared as a digital electric car with advanced IT capabilities for the user, a car with a new mental device, a compact, simple, convenient, technological^[1].

2024: Using an augmented reality projection display

Russian electric car "Atom" received a projection display with augmented reality (AR HUD). This became known in mid-April 2024.

By this date, the first version of the Builder application designer for a projection AR display was released, which will be installed on the Atom electric car. The applications will run on their own AR Engine, which, according to the developers, provides interaction between the projection display and the media system, allowing you to form the required components of the image. It is planned to display both current data on the state of the electric car (for example, speed), and various prompts and application interfaces.

The projection is said to be perceived by the driver as being 12 metres away from him. Such a distance was chosen because when switching attention from the road to AR HUD, the focus of vision does not change. For other projection displays common on the market, this figure mainly varies from 1 to 5 meters. Each AR HUD will be tested and calibrated at the factory using machine vision. In this case, the driver will be able to adjust the height and slope of the projection.

source = Kama Company

It is also reported that "Atom" will receive a multifunctional steering wheel with a built-in display, and in addition to the usual functions, the steering wheel will have control over functions that are usually tied to buttons and levers located in different places in the cabin. On the "Atom" steering wheel, they will not be implemented in the form of physical controls and levers, but as interface elements in the touchscreen touch screen. In addition to the touch display, physical joysticks on the steering wheel will be provided to control the screen.

The start of sales of the electric car "Atom" is scheduled for 2025.^[2]

2023

Attracting 24 billion rubles of investments

In 2021-2023 The developer of the electric car "Atom" attracted 24 billion rubles of investments for this project and collected 105 thousand preliminary orders for the supply of this car. Anatoly Kiyashko, director for interaction with state authorities of Kama JSC, cited such data at the end of January 2024 at a session of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) and the state corporation ВЭБ.РФ in Tatarstan.

According to Interfax, citing Kiyashko's presentation, most of these investments - 14 billion rubles - came from private investors. Another 10 billion rubles is a loan from the Industrial Development Fund (FRP).

source = Kama Company

According to Anatoly Kiyashko, Kama JSC expects to attract about 31 billion rubles from various sources in 2024. Financing is necessary, among other things, to complete the development of the Atom OS operating system, which can be used in the future by other domestic manufacturers of electric vehicles, said the director for interaction with state authorities of Kama JSC.

The head of RFRITlexander Pavlov, who was present at the ASI session, noted that the Atom project meets the architecture of especially significant projects.

The Atom project was presented to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at the CIPR, and we also looked with experts about the need to develop and refine software solutions. We can provide grant financing of up to 6 billion rubles for such particularly significant projects. Therefore, we hope that now in the "second wave" of selection the project will also be presented, - said Alexander Pavlov.

Anatoly Kiyashko says that about 70% of pre-orders for the purchase of the Kama electric car fall on the business segment. According to him, by the end of January 2024, the company is negotiating with all major players in the car sharing and taxi markets.^[3]

Production Agreement at Moskvich Plant

The manufacturer the Russian electric vehicles ATOM, the presales of which started at the end of July 2023, and the plant "" Muscovite signed a memorandum for the provision of services for the production of electric vehicles on the territory of the plant. According to the document, ATOM will use contract assembly services, including conveyor welding, painting and assembly of electric vehicles, as well as other related services. The company Kama announced this on August 23, 2023. Read more here.

The head of KamAZ and Ruben Vardanyan invested $1 million in the development of the Russian electric car Atom

The head of KamAZ and entrepreneur Ruben Vardanyan invested $1 million in the development of the Russian electric car Atom. The first of them spoke about this in mid-June 2023.

At the start of about a million dollars, each of us invested. I do not hide, I am a shareholder of KamAZ, and for two years I made a decision, the family agreed with this that I did not receive dividends from KamAZ, but invested them. I pumped the cache, which I was supposed to receive personally, to the "setpoint" of "Atom." And the project started on this, - said the general director of KamAZ.

The head of KamAZ and Ruben Vardanyan invested $1 million in the development of the Russian electric car Atom

He noted that by mid-June 2023, the Vardanyan, Broitman and Partners company is actively participating in all activities of the project, but does not contribute more money to it.

By the end of 2023, Kama intends to test the battery created jointly with Rosatom, as well as other units - suspension, steering system, chassis. The assembly of the first electric car is scheduled for the end of 2024, and by mid-2025 the company intends to move to mass production and mass sales. On June 1, Kogogin said that Atom electric cars are likely to be assembled at the Moskvich plant, where KamAZ. acts as a technology partner after Renault leaves.

In May 2023, the general director of Kama, Igor Povasdnyuk, said that due to the high level of digitalization, they would not only be a means of transportation, but also a kind of modern gadget, Russian Atom electric vehicles. Car sharing, taxi and delivery operators are the second group of potential buyers of Atom.

We are trying for these businesses to provide a certain tool in the form of our electric car, which will allow them to reveal, among other things, their accumulated potential for their digital product, to get a digital car, "he added in May 2023.[4]

Credit line 10 billion rubles from Novikombank

and "" Novikombank Kama entered into an agreement to organize financing for the industrialization of the Atom electric car. The press service Rostec of the reference bank "" announced this on May 10, 2023.

Under the terms of the agreement, Novikombank will take part in organizing financing for Kama for a total of 10 billion rubles. The funds will be used to develop a project to develop and create the production of electric vehicles.

Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Novikombank Aleksei Kuznetsov and General Director of the automobile company "KAMA" Igor Povasdnyuk

In 1.5 years, we have overcome the path from the dreams of several founders to a large technological project. We do not stand still and are actively approaching the industrialization of the project. The signing of an agreement with such a reliable industrial financial partner as Novikombank, which has expertise and experience in supporting high-tech projects, was another important step towards the industrialization of electric vehicles by Atom, said Igor Povasdnyuk, General Director of Kama JSC.

The start of serial production of "Atom" is scheduled for 2025. The project team by May 19, 2023 began preparing the production site and manufacturing equipment for the serial assembly of an electric car. It is assumed that this model will be the first electric car fully created in Russia and equipped with high-tech software.

According to Aleksei Kuznetsov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Novikombank, the production of a smart domestic electric car is a very promising direction and meets all current trends, since this is, first of all, a course towards import substitution and the creation of competitive domestic products.

Therefore, we intend to take part in organizing financing for the production of an electric car on a Russian automotive platform, with domestic software, which will become not just a means of transportation, but a kind of smart device, thanks to the high level of digitalization, he added.[5]

Presentation of the finished version

On May 11, 2023, a ready-made version of the fully Russian Atom electric car was presented. It is positioned as a mass segment car. It is expected that the machine will be sold abroad, including in the markets of China and Southeast Asia.

The Atom car, according to the developers, is aimed primarily at the younger generation of drivers "who are active participants in the new urban mobility." The electric car is a small hatchback, which, according to the creators, "reads the SUV format." The length of the prototype is 3995 mm, the width is 1780 mm, and the height is 1615 mm. The volume of the luggage compartment is equal to a modest 300-350 liters.

Electric car "Atom"

The development of a battery that provides a range of 500 km was carried out by the domestic company Ranera. It will also produce it at its own enterprise in 2025. The battery will be Russian not only at the place of development and production, but also at the resistance to cold climate thanks to an advanced thermostating system.

Also, the electric car is equipped with a projection display and a multimedia system, which, in addition to controlling various functions of the car, allows you to use instant messengers, advanced navigation and play games on the touch screen. The last option will probably be available only during parking due to safety reasons.

According to Kommersant, by mid-May 2023, Kama JSC had not yet determined the launch site of the car. For this purpose, the former Ford plant in Naberezhnye Chelny is also being considered. Sergei Udalov from Avtostat notes that it is too early to discuss assembly in other countries by mid-May 2023, especially in a highly competitive market like China. At the same time, he notes the economic efficiency of unifying the car body for different versions.

The serial assembly of the Russian electric car "Atom" starts in mid-2025 - then it will go on mass sale.

The Chinese will test battery samples for the Russian electric car Atom. Machine prototype specifications published

As TAdviser found out, by the end of May 2023, it is planned to carry out work on the integration and testing of samples of the traction battery as part of the functional prototypes of the Atom electric vehicle, including the thermostating system and the battery control system.

The publicly available documentation for the purchase of these works states that the contract in the interests of Kama is concluded with ATOM Automotive Engineering and Technology Co., Ltd, based in the Chinese city of Nanjing.

At the same time, the customer of the work under the contract is not Kama itself, but its partner specializing in electricity storage systems, with whom she entered into an agreement at the end of 2022.

The cost of work is about 7.87 million yuan, i.e. about 88 million rubles at the current exchange rate.

As follows from the published technical specification, the goals and objectives of the work are as follows:

• Develop requirements for the storage battery in accordance with the requirements of the car;
• Develop requirements for the BMS (battery management system) in accordance with the requirements of the vehicle and the requirements of the VCU (vehicle control unit - electronic power transmission level control unit for all high-voltage systems);
• Simulation of the battery design in accordance with car safety requirements and temperature conditions;
• Design and simulate temperature control in accordance with the battery characteristics and operating conditions of the traction electric drive;
• Design high-voltage and low-voltage circuits in accordance with the requirements of the vehicle;
• Development of BMS strategy according to vehicle and VCU requirements;
• Develop a table of threshold values ​ ​ of monitored parameters in accordance with the requirements of the car and the capacity of the battery;
• Draw up requirements for battery acceptance in accordance with the design requirements;
• Develop a thermostatic control system.

As stated earlier, we are creating the Atom electric car from scratch and pay great attention to the creation and development of Thermal Management technologies in the Atom electric car. These developments involve the integration and testing of samples of a traction battery as part of the functional prototypes of the Atom electric vehicle, including a thermostating system, a battery control system, TAdviser said in the Atom project.

ATOM Automotive Engineering and Technology, which will deal with the work, has not previously appeared in publications. Atom explained to TAdviser that ATOM Automotive Engineering and Technology is a company with a Chinese office and a staff of their brand abroad.

Atom has grown from an international team of startup professionals with a number of offices in cities of Russia and other countries. As part of the regulation of the company's activities on the international market, we create legal entities of the company to carry out their activities abroad, - said TAdviser in Atom.

In February 2023, the company said that the Atom project brought together world-class professionals from different industries and countries. A couple of the head of the startup Igor Povarazdnyuk is an experienced director of car development Harald Grubel from Germany, who previously worked with Mercedes, Volkswagen and AvtoVAZ. The IT component is under the leadership of Dmitry Ageev, who nurtured Avito and Gett in Russia, and was the global director of digital innovation at Yum! Brands.

And technological work in, in China particular, is conducted under the leadership of Alex Hamad, who previously collaborated with Tesla. Larry Wang, who previously led the development at Byton and, is responsible for creating a frost-resistant electric battery and electric drive. ChineseFord

In total, almost 400 engineers and developers are engaged^[6] the creation of an electric car, these are four actively growing R&D centers in Russia^[7].

The city of Nanjing, where the project office is located, is known as an industrial hub in the field of electric vehicles. There are various industries in this area, including the production of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

Atom says that they plan to report all the production details and technical characteristics of the electric car later as part of the presentation of the functional prototypes of Atom. Earlier, the general director of the brand Igor Povasdnyuk reported that the first prototype of the Russian electric car "Atom" will appear in April-May 2023, and as part of the presentation, a series of public screenings and closed events for shareholders and investors^[8].

However, the specification for the car is given in the terms of reference along with the rest of the documentation published in the public domain on the integration and testing of samples of the traction battery as part of the functional prototypes of Atom. See below.

2022

Details on Electric Vehicle Technology Solutions

Kama Company on December 21, 2022 shared details of technological solutions for the Atom electric vehicle. The key is the use of game development, as well as the use of open architecture, to involve thousands of external developers in the creation of electric vehicles.

Previously, the team said that it was developing an electric gadget that would become the basis of a technological lifestyle. The company slightly opened the architecture of the solutions being created, including the use of GameDev in the creation of an electric car, and also revealed several of its technology partners.

Electric vehicles will be able to integrate computer technology in the same way that the phone once turned into a smartphone. And game engines will be one of the main elements for creating the possibility of the first mass external development of functions for an electric car. In fact, Kama created the HMI marketplace of electric vehicles, allowing thousands of developers to safely create functions related to comfort, UX, UI, security, entertainment, business, "said Dmitry Ageev, director of IT products at the ATOM brand.

The project team is confident that the electric car needs to occupy not only a niche automobile industries - solutions are needed that can create a platform and accumulate around a physical car dozens of new technological ones. patents The future for electric vehicles is the development of IT development of platform solutions, which allows transferring the value of gadgets familiar to humanity to the future ATOM electric car -. smartphones

I've been developing games for over 20 years, working for companies like Blizzard, Wargaming, Game Garden. He took part in the development of interesting game projects - from "Farm Dale" to "World of Warcraft." But developing a machine is more interesting than games. Moreover, a machine in which game development technologies can be actively used. We are talking about creating a vivid driving experience for a person with a completely new level of safety, as well as the use of augmented reality elements, "said Albert Khakimov, head of the development of the ATOM graphics engine.

In support of the announced theses, on December 15, the ATOM brand launched its own gaming city in Atomville metauniverse Minecraft. The goal is to unite creative and creative representatives of the younger generation around the idea of ​ ​ creating electric vehicles. The prize for the best work is the future first serial electric car ATOM, which the winner will be able to pick up from the assembly line as early as 2025. This start date was previously announced by Harald Grubel, who headed the automotive part of ATOM development.

Russia has been accumulating potential in the IT industry for years, which now allows it to use all the collected capacity in the development of the ATOM electric car. The team managed to attract key IT professionals. Specialists with experience in Volkswagen, Mercedes, Tesla, Arrival, Yandex, Avito, Sber, Gett and many other projects have already joined the development.

It became known that in addition to the internal ATOM team, red mad robot and Evrone, strong players in the Russian IT industry, are working on the product. The teams confirmed participation in the project, as well as a high enthusiasm for the idea formed by ATOM.

Gaming, metaverse, NFT development - social networks all this is more than entertainment. Kama involves the full potential of global developers in the creation of a convenient digital urban electric car. To do this, we need developers from almost all industries, because our goal is actually a new type of "smartphone," which combines an absolutely serious industry and cyber security, at first glance, ARVR the entertainment//Gaming industry. As of December 2022, there are already 300 of us - from a 14-year-old GameDev developer to the most experienced auto engineers led by Harald Grubel. We all create our favorite Atom 24/7 - said Igor Povasdnyuk, CEO of the ATOM brand.

In November 2022, KAMA JSC presented the name, logo and teaser image of the Russian ATOM electric car. The presentation of design and technical characteristics is scheduled for 2023, the start of sales is scheduled for 2025. The first batch will be introduced into the transport system of the capital: ATOM will appear in taxi, car sharing and delivery services.

The timing of the start of sales of an electric car

On November 23, 2022, the timing of the start of sales of the Atom electric car became known. According to the executive director of Kama JSC Harald Grubel, a functional prototype of the machine will be shown in 2023, and the new product will be available in 2025.

Grubel says that an important task of the company was "changing the format of the relationship between a person and an electric car," and the needs of the younger generation are also taken into account when developing machines.

Electric car "Atom"

The fact that the prototypes of "Atom" are planned to be presented in 2023 was told in November 2022 by the general director of PJSC "KamAZ"  Sergei Kogogin, who, together  with businessman Ruben Vardanyan , invested in the development of the project.

According  to RTVI, the startup plans to spend $20 million to acquire the idle Ford Motor Company plant in   Naberezhnye Chelny. It was noted that the cars were called "Atom" after agreements with Rosatom, which is working on a plant for the production of batteries for electric cars on the territory of the Baltic nuclear power plant  in the Kaliningrad region.

Also, according to the presentation, Atom plans to produce four models of electric vehicles: the two-door city "Duo," the family "Family," separate cars for taxis and delivery. It is expected that all models have a maximum range of 500 km on a single charge.

Earlier, the Vedomosti newspaper reported that the Kama electric car is considered as the basis for the production of Moskvich cars.

Before the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, Kama had optimistic plans for expansion in the market. In a presentation in February 2022, the company envisioned 450,000 electric vehicles per year by 2030, some of which were supposed to be assembled in Hungary. By 2025 , Kama estimated the Russian market for electric traction machines at 100,000 units.^[9]

Announcement of the name of the electric car

November 9, 2022 startup JSC KAMA officially presented the name of the future - electric car ATOM, the conceptual idea of ​ ​ the project is based on the theory of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky about human atoms.

Atom

ATOM - that's what we called our electric car. We dream of our electric atom cars becoming an integral part of the technological life of the human atom community by 2025. ATOM includes the creation of a digital mobility environment and the electric car itself. told Igor Povasdnyuk, General Director of KAMA JSC

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian scientist and the founder, astronautics spoke of human atoms in the context of the philosophy of the universe and the construction of communities. A century later, philosophy resonated with the young Russian team from the banks of the Kama.

According to the company, the arteries of cities fill other mobility. Car sharing, taxis, everything delivery is a significant part of an ordinary city day, along with social networks, instant messengers, subscriptions, coworking spaces, metaverse and NFT. The team's task is to make an electric car that fits this lifestyle.

The transition to electric transport funds is a well-trodden road that most automakers in the world follow.

When developing a project, it is important to take into account not only technological, automotive trends, but also to create a mentally, worldview and modern product. Given the scale of changes in people's thinking and lifestyle even over the past 10 years, it would be wrong of us to offer users just an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine and more advanced car characteristics. commented Igor Povasdnyuk, General Director of KAMA JSC

To solve the problem, a team of product specialists, IT developers, UX designers from various areas was assembled: from mobility to gaming, from fintech to blockchain. As of November 2022, the ATOM international engineering and technical team has more than 250 automotive designers and IT developers with experience in implementing the largest projects in the fields of electric transport, mobility and ecosystems in Russia, China, Europe and the USA. The geography of the team covers many cities and countries. But her heart, an ideological center of inspiration, is located in one of the automobile capitals of Russia - in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny.

For many years, Russia has been building one of the world's strongest IT and mobility industries - the largest aggregators of taxis, car sharing, delivery, parks of modern urban electric transport and international IT companies were created in Europe. The ATOM project seeks to combine the potential of partners around the idea of ​ ​ a product that can become not only Russian, but also international symbol of digital mobility. So, the largest aggregators are already actively participating in the project: they share ideas, functional needs, participate in the development of solutions, become the customer of innovative solutions.

In the 3rd quarter of 2023, the team intends to present functional prototypes of the ATOM electric car.

Notes