I was delighted to see the Minister of Finance remove all import duties and other taxes on electric vehicles (EVs). Coming on top of the recent launch of the first solar-powered fast-charging station, the new NP service station in Preysal, this has given a big boost to the profile and possibilities of EVs in Trinidad & Tobago.
I have owned an electric car for the past two years. Despite the fact that it is a mid-range model and significantly less fancy than the luxury brands driven by many of my peers, I love it (though before I make myself out to be some sort of maverick, I should say there are in total three Board members out of sixteen in the Energy Chamber who drive EVs). As most people comment, the responsiveness of the EVs’ acceleration and the quiet running make them a pleasure to drive.
I charge my car at home, with a 220V connection on my driveway wall, which means that when I set out in the morning, I have a full battery and a range of around 240 km. I hear people talk about range anxiety, but the question I ask people is if they ever really drive more than 240 km in a single day? I certainly very rarely drive that far. Of course, a lot of the time I have had the car has been characterised by COVID public health regulations and less visits to Mayaro or Point Fortin, but even then, the range is just about sufficient. In addition, the car comes with a mobile charger that can also be plugged into a simple 110 V outlet for a top-up. The charger I have at home will take the battery from empty to full in about 4 hours, with the slow charger taking up to 8 hours. The fast charger installed in Preysal will do the job in about 30 minutes.
I actually suffered from a lot more “range anxiety” when I had an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. Admittedly, this is mainly because I am one of those annoying people who both let their tank get close to empty and also rarely carry cash; so I was always worrying about finding a gas station that took credit cards before I finally ground to a halt. Now, I start out each journey from home on a full battery.
While I was really pleased to be the first official user of the new fast-charging station, and I like the sense that my car is running on solar power electricity (rather than natural gas-powered electricity), the reality is that the most important charging infrastructure for EVs is already in place in the vast majority of households: namely the electricity grid. Once people park in their driveway or garage, charging from home is easy and on a small island, an extensive public charging infrastructure is not necessary. It is also very cheap compared to any ICE, even if electricity prices tripled. Plus, there are foreign exchange advantages, given the fact that EVs do not need imported gasoline or diesel and a lot less, imported spare parts.
Given that the availability of public charging stations is not a major constraint on the adoption of EVs in small island states, we need to be careful that we don’t concentrate on public policy issues dictated by the concerns in large continental states like the USA. The biggest issue to solve here, is the availability of a range of EVs with a price point where they will be attractive to most consumers. Removing the taxes is therefore a very welcome development. If this were tied to a policy from the government to prioritise procurement of EVs for their fleet, then I think we would see dealers bringing in many new options. Perhaps this is an area where coordinated procurement decisions across CARICOM governments could be very useful.
One of the push backs against EVs that I hear in Trinidad & Tobago is the fact that they run on fossil fuels, as our electricity is almost entirely from natural gas. While this is true (unless you routinely use the new solar-powered fast charger), it is also true that the combination of the huge generation turbines in power stations and the electric motor in each vehicle is a far, far more efficient way of delivering energy to the wheels of a car than individual ICEs burning gasoline or diesel. So, the carbon footprint associated with each kilometre driven is significantly less, not to mention the improvements in air pollution, especially for people living near major roadways.
Clearly, the bigger picture, however, is that if we really want to move to reduce the carbon footprint of transport, we need to move away from private cars to public transport. At the moment, a wholesale shift towards public transport seems like a stretch in Trinidad, given the high vehicle ownership rates and the very real fears about crime and security. But reliance upon public transport (or at least the shared taxi version of “public transport” that we have) is a reality for many of our citizens and the objective of transport policy should be to get more people out of cars, into reliable public transport and walking in our urban areas (which incidentally could have very positive public health benefits given the prevalence of obesity and heart disease). But in the meantime, I will take the step forward with the tax removal as a small victory along the way to a sustainable transport system.