Experts in the Costa Rican transport sector and industry predict changing tides and an increase in the use of electric vehicles in the country.
Currently, only 600 out of 1.4 million private vehicles run on electricity. However, this is twice the number of electric vehicles that were on the roads in 2017.
Bernal Munoz, a Director at the Institute of Electricity (ICE), the company which generates 65% of Costa Rica’s electricity and the country’s sole distributor of energy, says mathematical models indicate an acute growth rate. “In five years”, said Mr. Munoz, “there could be 40 000 electric vehicles.”
Various public institutions, including ICE and Costa Rica’s State postal service, are leading by example and purchasing fleets of electric cars and motorcycles. Incentives for buyers were also implemented last year through tax exemptions for the private purchase of electric car.
“The Government wants to convert Costa Rica into a laboratory for the decarbonisation of the economy, and transport is fundamental to that”, said Carlos Echeverria, senior regional specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank.
Whilst Costa Rica seems on the verge of an EV revolution, other experts insist a network of public electric buses will be essential to truly modernise the country’s transport infrastructure.
