Bridging the Gaps Towards an EV Wave in Belize

So, why has the E.V. wave not overtaken Belize as yet? Esquivel says, the challenge is threefold. They are physical infrastructure, legislative infrastructure, and political will. Here is how she puts it.

Ruth Esquivel,

Ruth Esquivel, Electric Vehicle Owner

“I think it kind of threefold; the first is that the infrastructure is not here. BEL now has three charging stations and I believe they are putting one in Orange Walk and one down in Dangriga, which will help with that, because it is kinda of a chicken and egg situation. I charge at home and with my vehicle I could actually plug into my regular house outlet, my one ten outlet. It would take much longer if I charge that way. So, I got my electrician to put in a two twenty outlet outside and it is fine. I don’t have a special charging station. It is literally just a plug. But, there is range anxiety that comes with you having an EV, because there if there is nowhere for you to charge then you can’t take a very long journey. There is also the concern about well, what will you do when the battery fails. It is a battery powered car and it is not like there is anyone in Belize, you know you have people that rebuild alternators in Belize, you don’t have anyone who is rebuilding EV batteries. But really, the life on EV batteries is at least ten years.  My vehicle is an older model and I have not had any problem with my EV battery to date. But, I think also government really needs to step in and have proper infrastructure for it, because when I brought in my EV they charged me duty as if I brought in a four cylinder vehicle which is not what I brought in. But, it is not clear cut in the law or at least at the time it was not. And, there is no tax incentive or anything. I still paid environmental tax and all the other things.  So, I do think the government needs to, I doesn’t have to be much cheaper than bringing in another car, but if there is some benefit, but beyond that it is easy, and you know ahead of time, and it is clear cut, the law is clear, all the people at custom knows, and there is no guess work. That would drastically improve. But really, I think there is a hesitation for government to make that push because a lot of their income comes from taxes on fuel.”