Uruguay’s capital city wants to expand its electric bus fleet; China could be its partner

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Montevideo needs to expand its limited electric bus fleet. And in China, it identifies a partner that can facilitate the incorporation of that technology and infrastructure, said the mayor of the Uruguayan capital, Carolina Cosse.

“There is the willingness of Montevideo to sit down to work at a table to find some way to advance electric transport,” the head of the Uruguayan capital’s government said in an interview with Xinhua.

The economic crisis generated by the pandemic, among other reasons, postponed plans to expand the electric fleet.

Currently, electric buses are only about thirty of the 1,500 vehicles in circulation of Chinese brands such as Yutong or BYD.

In 2021, Cosse presented an ambitious plan to create two large electric bus corridors, rapid transit to the metropolitan area, which included 150 buses, and investments between US$300 and US$500 million.

“We put forward that project which would involve a large investment. We need the approval of the national government,” said Cosse. Beyond this plan, “we are not giving up looking for a modality that will allow us, at least, to have one more advance in electric mobility”.

Cosse is a 60-year-old engineer, former Minister of Industry, and president of the state-owned communications company, ANTEL, during the Frente Amplio governments in Uruguay.

“China is a leader in electric mobility. We need help because we have the will and the energy matrix,” she said.

Almost 98% of Uruguay’s energy production comes from renewable sources, mainly hydro, wind, or biomass.

“Even if we can’t realize the project of the metropolitan trunk lines, we aspire to find a way to incorporate 100 units to the main ones,” said Cosse, who is in charge of the mayor’s office until 2025. It would imply a “gesture” to the population because “those who use public transport are mostly workers and the State must contribute to the quality of life”.

With 1.4 million inhabitants, the department-city of Montevideo concentrates almost half of the Uruguayan population in a little more than 500 square kilometers, with a share of nearly 50% of Uruguay’s Gross Domestic Product.

“We are sorry to let five years go by without advancing in electric mobility in a country that changed its electric matrix with a great effort,” she reflected. Cosse acknowledged that “we are going to need help because we do not have the liquidity to pay the cost of an electric unit”.

The performance of BYD and Yutong electric buses on the streets of a capital city lying on the Rio de la Plata “is very positive”, also favoring a mutual “learning” because “operators, technicians, and companies learn”. Cosse recalled two visits he made to Shenzhen, in southern China, the first in 2014.

She described Shenzhen had begun incorporating electric vehicles into public transportation. “Then I was in Shenzhen again, as a minister, together with the then-president of the Republic, Tabaré Vázquez. And they told me: ‘We already changed it’ They already had all-electric public transport. China can do that.”, Cosse recalled.