MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (ViaNews) – Argentina, the second largest country in Latin America, will start 2018 with a new policy on electric vehicles, allowing the first clean energy vehicles in the country be made available for sale.

The new policy aims to boost the production and sales of electric vehicles, promoting an E-mobility future by starting to do away with import taxes on hybrid, electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Among the authorized vehicles are the Toyota Hybrid Prius and the Renault Kangoo ZE models.

Last December 15th, the first operational station for loading 100% electric vehicles in the country has been inaugurated in the city of Buenos Aires by the Italian firm Enel, through its subsidiary in Argentina, Edesur.

In the future, the station will be able not only to load the Renault model but any other car from all car manufacturers, as it happens today in Europe.

Moreover, the Swiss company ABB has come to an agreement with state-owned firm YPF to install 220 electric car chargers in Argentina (the ABB Terra 53 chargers will be made available in 110 YPF stations through a partnership with QEV Argentina) an estimated investment of US$ 13 million (American dollars).

Those stations will be able to charge models from manufacturers like Toyota, General Motors or Volkswagen.

“Argentina is going to be a global force in the clean energy sector.” President Mauricio Macri stated.

About 6000 electric vehicles are expected to reach the Argentinian market in 2018.

A “green future” is becoming a reality in Latin America by creating the policies and infrastructure required to attract manufacturers.

Countries such as Netherlands, France, China or Germany have already committed to the goal of only selling electric vehicles in a period of time that ranges from 2025 until 2040.

Latin America has a long road to walk to reach such goals, but 2018 is set to be the year where countries in the region start to see electric mobility in the streets, and customers starting to benefit from energy efficiency improvements.

Uruguay

December 27th, 2017 Uruguay launched the first electric route in Latin America.

The route encompasses an initial section of six strategically located, ANCAP (state-owned oil company) charging stations for electric vehicles, within a distance of 60 to 70km from each other, between the cities of Colonia del Sacramento and Punta del Este.

The recharging is free of charge for national and international vehicles (mostly hybrid vehicles).

The average time to recharge a vehicle is about an hour, providing an autonomy of about 300 km or 187 miles.

UTE (state-owned electric company) will continue to expand the route. The company has plans to install 48 additional stations, which will cover the entire country through its main national roads.

Ute CEO, Gonzalo Casaravilla stated: “Each loading point costs between US$ 4 to US$ 5 thousand (American dollars).”

Chile

Nowadays, Chile has over 180 electric cars running through its streets, a number set to raised to five million by 2050.

Among the main challenges, to lower prices and achieve a faster charging time are a priority.

The goal is to be able to charge the car battery as fast as it takes today to load a fuel tank, which is about five minutes.

Next February 2018, the Chilean capital, Santiago de Chile, will feature on its streets, the first Santiago E-Prix of Formula E.

The world’s first fully-electric single-seater street racing series was founded back in 2012, serving as a platform for car manufacturers to develop new technologies.

It has achieved great success bringing the electric car concept closer to customers worldwide.

Last month, the Fuel Choices and Smart Mobility Summit took place in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Main directors of the automotive industry have reunited to debate about the future of sustainable mobility.

People at the summit agreed on the fact that the cars of the future will indeed be environmentally friendly, equipped with fast-charging organic batteries and will get smaller.

According to Erez Lorber, a Chief Operating officer for StoreDot, a company that develops organic batteries, in “ten years, 50 percent of the world’s cars will be electric.”