Colombia and Chile Announce Electric Vehicle Programs

Colombia and Chile recently announced electric vehicle programs. The following updates are from NRDC's Latin America Green News.*

• President Ivan Duque presented Colombia’s new National Electric and Sustainable Mobility Strategy, noting the plan will bring about a “revolution” in the country’s vehicle fleet. Under the new plan, Colombia aims to have 600,000 electric vehicles in circulation by 2030. The strategy calls for financial incentives such as an import tariff exemption for electric vehicles, a 10 percent reduction in insurance premiums for obligatory accident coverage, and lower vehicle inspection fees. In addition, 20 rapid charging stations will be installed in Bogota and a minimum of five will be installed in the country’s other large municipalities.  Duque recently signed Law 164 which sets the goal of having public transport systems purchase 100% EV or zero emission vehicles by 2035. (El Diario 08/28/2019; MinAmbiente 08/28/2019)

 

• Meanwhile, in Chile, the Ministry of Energy and the Sustainable Energy Agency launched a pilot project to promote electromobility in private companies. Five companies from the mining, delivery, insurance, financial and forestry sectors will participate in the pilot initiative to test technologies. The information and experience generated during the pilot will then be shared with others to help expand the use of electric vehicles to new market players. In this first stage, the participating companies are Codelco, Chilexpress, Seguros Sura, BCI Bank and CMPC Forestry and Paper Company.(PV Magazine 08/28/2019)

* Latin America Green News is a selection of weekly news highlights about environmental and energy issues in Latin America. It is prepared by the Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) Latin America Project. For a free email subscription, please sign up here.