Last Friday, the Latin American Association of Sustainable Mobility (ALAMOS), in partnership with the company Evergo and the Dominican Sustainable Mobility Association (ASOMOEDO), inaugurated the fifth Electric Road in the region: the “Caribbean.”
Moving forward, Puerto Rico, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica will be connected through an electric vehicle charging network.
“We had a very nice caravan, 35 electric vehicles participated. There were not only cars, but also buses, vans, minibusses, pickups, and trucks. Many models led this caravan in Punta Cana,” details Silvia Rojas, president of ALAMOS and executive director of the Costa Rican Electric Mobility Association (ASOMOVE), to Mobility Portal Latinoamérica.
In the Dominican Republic, the group arrived at Evergo Connect, the company’s new charging hub, which has 29 connectors of CCS, CHAdeMo, and GB/t types.
Each charger, powered by renewable energy, has a capacity of 225 kW/h.
The charging station will be officially inaugurated soon.
More than 100 interested individuals participated in the event, where a variety of distributors such as BMW, Volkswagen, BYD, Tesla, and Geely presented a wide range of offerings to attendees.
“The development seen here is palpable. We see how there was an early commitment to market development as people became more aware,” says Edwin MartÃnez, president of ASOMOEDO.
He adds, “Part of our work involves raising awareness, bringing the government and the community closer, and facilitating a smooth transition. People can understand the benefits and the contribution that electric mobility represents.”
In addition, the Superintendent of Electricity, Andrés Astacio, states, “Electromobility has proven to be more efficient. We are in a transition process, and that is what we, from the government, have tried to present.”
“As a regulator, we have established criteria for the construction of charging station networks and have also defined an initial tariff model to create the necessary incentives so that people can move towards new technologies,” he says.
He further adds, “This is just the beginning. In our country, electric cars were recently seen as a novel and beautiful toy, but users did not see them as a tool. Today, statistics begin to show that citizens are adopting these means of transportation as part of our daily lives.”
The electric roads connecting Latin America
Initially, ASOMOVE took the initiative to carry out the Central American Electric Road in 2022, crossing borders from Costa Rica to Guatemala.
Later, under ASOMOVE’s presidency in ALAMOS, the effort continued with the rest.
In September 2023, the Andean Road was deployed, covering Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
In October, the North Electric Road was inaugurated, connecting Central America with Mexico, and last November, the Southern Cone Electric Road took place, including Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Paraguay.
For Silvia Rojas, all this work is essential to attract investments in the region, considering that charging networks and a diverse range of vehicles are crucial to reducing uncertainty in society.
“How do we accelerate the transition? One of the steps is through charging stations, and that’s how the Latin American routes were born. The goal is very specific: to see ourselves as a market,” emphasizes the president during the inauguration.
And she concludes, “This is a demonstration of what countries in Latin America and the Caribbean can do. We are very capable. The world is turning to look, and there is a lot of interest here. What I always tell them is that they are ‘missing out on the business.’ Meanwhile, for us, the important thing is to be ready.”
Read more: Country by Country: What Non-Tax Benefits Drive Electromobility in Latin America?
