Uruguay’s formula to switch all public transport to electric within 16 years

The Uruguayan government is preparing a formula to replace Montevideo’s entire public transport fleet and its metropolitan area with electric vehicles within 16 years.

The Executive Branch is working on the details of a “definitive announcement” that will include conditioning the continuity of a subsidy to the sector on the companies implementing the replacement of their fleet with electric vehicles, for which they will have special financing promoted by the public administration, said Transport Minister José Luis Falero in an interview with Bloomberg Línea.

The secretary of state added that the ministries of Transportation, Industry, Economy, and Finance and the Office of Planning and Budget are at the close of negotiations.

“We have taken to the President of the Republic (Luis Lacalle Pou) a proposal concerning fleet replacement. We are closing the numbers to be able to enable the subsidy that transport has today, to maintain it as long as the replacement is given towards the electric form,” Falero affirmed during the talk in his office at the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, in Montevideo’s Ciudad Vieja (Old City).

The minister explained that this would be complemented by “extraordinary financing” for the companies to cover the difference in the market value of a vehicle that runs on fossil fuels and an electric one.

Thus, the government’s objective is to complete the total replacement of public passenger transport in 16 years for Montevideo and the metropolitan area comprising Canelones and San José. The minister pointed out that this is because the units must be replaced within that period so that the plan would enable the total renewal.

According to the Minister of Transport, although this “forces” the replacement, it also allows a “permanent process” of fleet renewal. “Collective transport has a mandatory renewal after 16 years. This means that if we start now, there can be a continuous process that will lead us to change practically all public transport, at least within the metropolitan area, in 16 years,” summarized Falero.

With information from Bloomberg