Latin America: Electric vehicle sales grow, Colombia leads the way

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Electric vehicles are gaining ground in Latin America. Although still far from the figures of large markets such as China, Europe, and the United States, their sales have grown steadily and rapidly in recent years in the region.

A total of 118,191 hybrid and electric vehicles were registered in 2021 in Latin America, more than 100% more compared to 2020, when 57,078 units were registered, according to data provided to DW by Colombia’s National Association of Sustainable Mobility, Andemos.

And the figures so far this year are even more telling. In several countries in the region, growth compared to the first quarter of 2021 is well over 200%. In the case of Brazil, electric vehicle sales grew by 331.6%; in Ecuador, by 315.8%; in Mexico, by 298.6%; and in Colombia, by 229.4%, to cite the most notable cases.

COLOMBIA IS AT THE FOREFRONT

In absolute numbers, the undisputed leadership is held by Colombia, with 1,296 electric units registered in 2021 and 1,097 in the first three months of 2022; quite far behind is Mexico in second place, with 1,140 electric vehicles registered in 2021, to which 570 have been added in the first quarter of this year.

“Colombia has made significant progress in sustainable mobility in the last four years,” said Oliverio García, president of Andemos, the association that brings together importers and assemblers of motor vehicles in Colombia, in an interview with DW.

“In 2021, and for the fourth consecutive year, Colombia led the all-electric vehicle segment in the region. And by 2022, the figures point to the country having the lead for the fifth time. In the first four months of the year, 1,331 units have been registered,” advances the expert, whose association closely monitors the evolution of sales in the sector.

“There are 5,586 fully electric vehicles in circulation in Colombia,” García points out.

MEXICO AND BRAZIL ARE LEADERS IN HYBRIDS

The panorama is different concerning hybrid vehicles (powered by internal combustion and electric engines) and plug-in hybrids (which combine an electric motor and a gasoline engine but whose batteries can also be recharged through a plug).

In these categories, Mexico ranks first (with 42,447 hybrid units registered in 2021 and 3,492 plug-in hybrid units). Brazil is in second place, with 32,130 and 2,141 respectively. And Colombia is in third place, with 14,694 hybrid vehicles and 1,712 plug-in hybrids registered in 2021.

In this sense, hybrid vehicles are considered transitional vehicles, and therein also lies their potential.

“A consumer of an internal combustion vehicle is more likely to migrate to a hybrid vehicle first than directly to an electric vehicle,” explains Garcia. “Because of the difference in prices between these two and the limitations that may arise due to the lack of adequate infrastructure conditions that allow this migration,” he details, speaking of reasons.

“Likewise, a hybrid vehicle owner is more likely to upgrade to an electric vehicle in his next purchase than to return to an internal combustion vehicle,” he analyzes.

These issues are precisely some of the main difficulties for the growth of this innovative sector: “The main barriers faced by countries like Colombia to reach the goal of zero emissions are, on the one hand, the price gap between combustion vehicles versus electric vehicles, and, on the other hand, the deployment of the charging network,” says Garcia.

“Latin America faces many of the typical barriers to entry for expanding the use of electric vehicles and has few of the incentives that have helped the sale of these vehicles in other regions of the world,” says the report “Green Transportation: Prospects for Electric Vehicles in Latin America,” prepared by Estefanía Marchán, a consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank, and Lisa Viscidi, director of the Energy, Climate Change and Extractive Industries Program at the Inter-American Dialogue.

“The most important barriers to entry are high sales costs and lack of infrastructure for battery charging. There are concerns about grid capacity and also about competition from other industries,” the publication states.

“However, promoting the expansion of electricity-powered transport in Latin America would offer many benefits, such as improving air quality and public health, and would play an important role in reducing carbon emissions,” the authors conclude.

Thus, with a view to green mobility, the continent’s journey has only just begun. But its task is clear and fundamental: the transport sector is one of the main sources of polluting emissions, constantly increasing.

With information from DW