The final electric route of the year kicked off, with Santiago, Chile, serving as the inaugural hub.
“The electric routes are a civil society initiative,” emphasizes Silvia Rojas Soto, President of the Latin American Association of Sustainable Mobility (ALAMOS) and Executive Director of the Costa Rican Electric Mobility Association (ASOMOVE), at the opening ceremony.
The Southern Cone Route was planned in three stages, similar to the others.
The first involves a technical study of existing chargers to assess the situation and carry out the route.
The second stage involves identifying where devices are needed to make the route effective.
And the third is to promote electromobility within the community.
The journey will begin in the Chilean capital and then traverse Argentina to reach Buenos Aires.
Afterward, it will pass through Punta del Este (Uruguay), head north to San Paulo (Brasil), and conclude in Asuncion (Paraguay)
“The concept of the Southern Cone electric route is to showcase sustainable mobility, and the purpose is to debunk myths,” says Rodrigo Salcedo, President of the Electric Vehicle Association of Chile (AVEC).
Ultimately, the focus is on the operation of the route itself and continuing to disseminate technology and the safety of electric vehicles in Latin America.
“We invite representatives from different brands, light vehicles, micro-mobility, and passenger transport to bring sustainable mobility to the people,” comments the President of AVEC in a conversation with Mobility Portal Latin America.
He adds, “The invitations are geared towards understanding how the cars work, their mileage, and their benefits.”
At the same time, charging infrastructure companies, of course, have not been left behind and are present in these introductory words.
Looking ahead, Salcedo advocates for the implementation of public policies regarding infrastructure.
From AVEC, they plan a 2024 with “events of this kind in central locations in Latin America,” according to Salcedo, with the aim of bringing together a large number of people.
It is worth mentioning that Chile is a model country for electromobility compared to the rest of the region.
Regarding current public policy and regulations, the country has had a national strategy since 2017 carried out by three ministries: Environment, Transportation and Telecommunications, and Energy.
On the other hand, the growth of electromobility in Chile demonstrates significant development in the vehicle fleet. But also in the installation of public chargers, the number of which reaches 1,146.
Previous Electric Routes
While the completion of the Southern route is a cause for celebration, it is worth remembering that it is the result of much prior work.
This effort includes the initiation of other routes in previous years, forming the foundation for projects by associations such as AVEC and ALAMOS.
It all began in 2021 with the route that connected San Jose, Costa Rica, with Panama City, followed by a year with the Central American Route, covering Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.
The third was the Andean Electric Route, located in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
The last one, held in the Northern Region, had Mexico and Guatemala as its hubs.
There, 10 countries were connected by fast and semi-fast chargers every 250 kilometers.
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