The first batch of cars was made in 1976. The design was frankly unsuccessful, but these mistakes helped the engineers to finalize the model and make an acceptable electric car for the 1980 Olympics. Judges were carried on it. After that, it was no longer needed.
So why didn’t electric cars go into mass production? There is a whole range of reasons: a short range, constant problems with batteries, the high cost of electrical equipment, and hence the car itself. And the cost of fuel in the USSR was, well, frankly, mere pennies, and no one seriously thought about abandoning cars with an internal combustion engine.
Therefore, electric vehicles remained only an engineering experiment. Although very interesting and breakthrough for its time.
