The Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MoPI) through the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) has launched the first Government-owned fully powered electric car.
The Nissan 2019 model car was launched this morning at the National Cultural Center Parking Lot and was test driven by Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson as well as Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Jaipaul Sharma.
According to Minister Patterson, “It’s a start of a process. From this we will do a lot of data logging on how it works, how cost effective it is, the charging ports, so therefore obviously with this data, the background that we have here we would be able to see if it’s economically feasible to convert more and more of our fleet into electric vehicles and then obviously we would move on to bigger things like public transportation if it’s feasible.”
The Electric Vehicle (EV) was budgeted for last year. It is the first of its kind to be imported by the Government. Chief Executive Officer of GEA, Dr. Mahender Sharma explained to the media that the Government advertised the tender back in January and got no bids. It was re-advertised when they received one $13,000,000 bid but this was deemed too expensive. Approval was sought to procure from a supplier in Barbados and the car subsequently arrived in January of this year.
Dr. Sharma explained that the Agency has been very pleased with the experience of this vehicle. It is fully electric and has a 40kWh battery, that gives about 150 driving miles which is almost 240 km on a single charge. “I have been driving it with AC (Air Condition) for the last three weeks and I have been getting about 144 km on a single charge.”
When compared to a Suzuki Vitara car, powered by gasoline, Dr. Sharma noted that the Vitara costs him about $50.00 per km while the EV when calculated in electricity costs, amounted to $10.00 per km.
The cost of the EV was US$39,900, FOB, exclusive of taxes. The overall landed cost of the car after paying VAT was about $10.6 million. The CEO was keen to note that an equivalent regular car and engine costs about US$10,000 less, however, the EV helps to save in fuel costs. Additionally, it does not require muffler, oil and filter changes.
The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) presently offers duty-free on vehicles that are 4-8 years old. Vehicles less than four years attract a 14% VAT.
In the near future Dr. Sharma said he intends to set up charging stations in four locations in the country to cater for these vehicles.
