CRC Daily: Costa Rica growing electric vehicle fast-charge network
The First Lady inaugurated the first of 28 new stations on Wednesday.
It has been a big week for electric transportation in Costa Rica.
Tuesday, the German Embassy donated three electric buses to Costa Rica. They mark the beginning of the country’s planned public-transport modernization and will enter service soon.
And in a ceremony held Wednesday in Siquirres, First Lady Claudia Dobles inaugurated the first of 28 new electric vehicle fast chargers. By the end of the year, Costa Rica will have a nationwide network of these fast chargers.
According to the Presidency:
The new units are located in strategic points such as Garabito, Limón, Turrialba, Pérez Zeledón, Palmar Norte, Ciudad Neilly, Naranjo, La Cruz, San Ramón, Uvita, Sámara, Las Juntas, Caballo Blanco, Guápiles, Dominical and Liberia, completing electric routes to all regions of the country: southern and northern areas, the Caribbean, Guanacaste and Central Pacific.
These fast chargers will be added to the grid of more than 100 charging locations that already exist across Costa Rica.
The Central American country tries to stimulate demand for electric vehicles by exempting them from the general sales tax, the selective consumption tax and the customs value tax — duties which, as we wrote yesterday, make some items prohibitively expensive in Costa Rica.
This is all part of Costa Rica’s decarbonization plan. By promoting electric vehicles (which charge from a power grid that’s 98% renewable), Costa Rica seeks to reduce the environmental footprint of its transportation sector.
The country still has a ways to go; just 1,334 electric cars were imported from 2009 until this year. But as that demand (slowly) grows, Costa Rica has the infrastructure to support cleaner and more modern transportation.
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