GREEN BUSES
Pumping fuel into electricity
generation is two to three times
more efficient than putting it
directly into car engines, he said,
meaning more electric vehicles
on the roads could help shave the
region’s hefty bills.
For many Caribbean countries, over
half the amount of fuel they import
is used for transport. Barbados
spent $300 million last year on fuel
imports, government data shows.
Crippled with public debt and
dogged by rising oil prices, the
island’s new government wants to
make its bus network electric, and
eventually switch all government
transport, too.
Boodoo said increased state
investment in electric buses would
help upgrade transport systems,
while cutting climate-changing
emissions and paving the way for
consumers to follow.
Plug-in vehicles could also
“piggy-back” on a push to inject
more power into the grid from
renewables like solar, wind and
hydro, said Devon Gardner,
CARICOM’s energy programme
manager.
Costs are high, however, and on
some islands import duties for
electric vehicles are higher than on
combustion-engine cars.
Trinidad and Tobago has scrapped
taxes and import duties for most
electric cars, but taxes elsewhere
can add up to 100 percent
depending on the model. High
purchase prices mean vehicles
remain unaffordable for most
Caribbean drivers. A Nissan Leaf
electric car, for example, costs
about $50,000 in Barbados,
compared with $30,000 in Britain.
Heavily indebted Caribbean
countries are torn between
collecting much-needed revenue
from car imports and supporting
the roll-out of private electric
vehicles, said Gardner.
“The Caribbean doesn’t have the
luxury of using some of the levers
of incentives that were used by the
richer, more developed countries,”
he said.
Nonetheless, power utilities in the
Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and St.
Lucia are starting to install charging
networks, which could help the
sector expand, said Megapower’s
Edghill.
“Privately-owned utilities want
people buying electricity, so every
person that is plugging in is a
person not buying gas or diesel,
but buying their product,” she said.
BATTERY BACK-UP
John Felder, who founded Cayman
Automotive, plans to open an office
soon in Havana and anticipates a
healthy market in Cuba for electric
bikes and scooters which start at
$800.
Low import duties on electric
vehicles in Cuba make them
cheaper to buy, said Felder. He
has sold about 60 electric cars in
the Cayman Islands -- which has
cut import duties -- and installed
15 charging stations he wants to
convert to solar.
“The ecosystem is very fragile
-- there are no freeways where
you can go 70, 80 miles per hour
for hundreds of miles,” he said.
“Electric vehicles are perfect for the
Caribbean.”
While fast-improving battery
technology is making electric
www.slyoumag.com | September-October 2019
cars more attractive globally,
on hurricane-prone Caribbean
islands, emerging vehicle-to-grid
technology could use power stored
in batteries to keep the lights on if
disaster strikes.
Power stored in one electric bus
could provide energy for up to 50
homes for a day, or power shelters
and community centers if overhead
electricity cables are knocked out,
said Boodoo.
Driving down prices might be key
to kick-starting an electric car
revolution. But some bet islands
will gradually wake up to the
benefits plug-in vehicles can bring
by improving public transport and
taming expensive diesel habits.
“I’d like to say that within five
years, 10 percent of the (Barbados)
population will be driving electric
vehicles -- I think that’s realistic,”
said Edghill.
Reporting by Sophie Hares. Editing
by Megan Rowling and Robert
Carmichael. Please credit the
Thomson Reuters Foundation,
the charitable arm of Thomson
Reuters, that covers humanitarian
news, climate change, resilience,
women’s rights, trafficking and
property rights. Visit news.trust.
org/
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