How Uruguay became one of Tesla’s South American capitals

In July 2020, the first Tesla-branded electric car (a Model 3) was sold in Uruguay for US$82,900.

Since then, journalistic records show that by mid-2022, at least 50 cars were manufactured by Elon Musk’s company circulating in Uruguayan territory.

However, the first Tesla that arrived in Uruguay dates back to November 2017, when Orlando Dovat, president of Zonamerica, imported the S90D model.

Today, in Montevideo, you can find charging stations of the state-owned electricity company UTE, intended explicitly for charging this type of “green” car.

In proportion to the number of inhabitants of each Latin American country, the number of Tesla cars, and electric vehicles in general, that were marketed in Uruguay is surprising.

In fact, according to a BloombergNEF report by analyst Natalia Castilhos Rypl, among Latin American countries, Uruguay had the second highest percentage of electric vehicle sales as a percentage (more than 2.5%) of total car sales in the country in 2021.

According to an article published in the specialized media insideevs.com.ar, out of a vehicle fleet of 1.2 million in Uruguay, an estimated 500 electric vehicles were marketed in 2021.

In 2020 there were 120, and 38 in 2019.

In September 2022, some 1,000 100% electric cars were circulating in Uruguay.

TESLA CARS ARRIVING IN URUGUAY IN 2021

By the end of 2021, 42 Tesla-branded cars were registered in Uruguay.

The emblematic autonomous and electric vehicles arrive in the country through private individuals, or investment initiatives of the Applications Commission (Comap) since the company led by tycoon Elon Musk has no official presence in Uruguay.

According to El Observador, 31 of these vehicles were registered in Montevideo.

TESLA PRICES IN URUGUAY

According to an article in El Observador newspaper, the second most expensive electric car on the Uruguayan market today is a Tesla.

It is the Model X Plaid, which has a value of US$247,500.

This model accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds.

CHARGING PROBLEMS

Recently, the story of three Uruguayans who set off from North America to South America to connect Alaska with Ushuaia on top of a Tesla spread.

And so they carried out the journey aboard a Model 3 and Model Y.

“So we did it! We drove two Tesla electric cars from Anchorage (Alaska) to Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego)! We just wanted to prove that it was possible. And it is. It’s still not easy, but soon this will be normal,” tweeted Martin Casabal, one of the adventurers in question,

The main drawbacks highlighted by the three Uruguayans to different media had to do with getting charging stations for the electric battery, given that today the region does not have enough service stations prepared for this purpose.

That is why they had to manage to fill their batteries in any outlet since they did not always have access to specialized chargers.

Sometimes, they were forced to wait 30 to 40 hours for the battery to be complete.

“The most difficult places to charge were Canada and Peru,” they told El Observador.

With information from Bloomberg