At a time when the international and local price of fuels has experienced considerable rises as a result of the high price of oil, among other factors due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, the electric mobility could be a possible solution to the costs of hydrocarbons.
And based on the experience of the owner of an electric vehicle and a company that changed its fleet of gasoline motorcycles, the economic advantage that this type of mobility has compared to those that operate with fuels is “much higher”.
“Charging the entire car, from scratch, is between 600 and 700 pesos and that is equivalent to a tank (of gasoline) of a normal car. There you make a relationship: if you put 4,000 pesos or 3,000 pesos of gasoline in your current vehicle versus 700 pesos”, highlighted Víctor Gómez, owner of an electric car.
Gómez explained that his vehicle has a 54 kilo battery and that charging it at home, if it is completely discharged, costs 600 pesos, because each kilo of electricity costs 11 pesos, since in the charging process They lose two or three kilos.
He stressed that, in addition to the fuel savings represented by electric units compared to conventional fuels, maintenance is the second cost that owners of electric cars avoid paying.
He explained that the maintenance recommended by the manufacturer is: every 10,000 miles rotate the tires, every two years change the air filter, and in that two-year maintenance check the brake fluid and some fluids, but they do not have any additional maintenance.
“The electric cars they use no oil or engine filter, they have virtually no belts or spark plugs; all that scheme of parts that a normal combustion vehicle has, that has a useful life and scheduled changes since the car is delivered to you, you do not have it here, ”he added.
In the Dominican Republic there is a charging network for electric vehicles, located in bank branches, supermarkets and shopping malls, among other spaces. Although Gómez clarified that he does not usually use it, he specified that the company that manages it has a rate for charging time and not for energy consumed, which depending on the type of charger (there is level two and three) the cost varies.
“I have with electric mobility about two and a half years. Before the pandemic, I sold a vehicle I had and bought a used electric one. I began to get to know that world and I lasted almost a year with that vehicle and, after I verified all the benefits, I changed to the one I have now”, he indicated.
Gómez, who is also the administrator of a communications company, said that he implemented a pilot project in the company to change motorcycles from conventional fuels to electric ones, which was what motivated him to change to an electric car.
He stated that, through the project, he identified that the company had significant fuel consumption in its delivery men. “We saw the opportunity to do a pilot for six months, first with 10 electric steps; We proved that they could handle the load of newspapers, that they could bear the burden of doing this distribution every day, and then we went on to buy 25. And the idea at some point is to complete the park,” he said.
He pointed out that the fuel savings that the company has had have been important and that the project, in 14 months, had already paid for the investment.
