Omar Cortina is a Cuban who commutes daily between his job at a state hotel and his home, and also goes in search of food and other basic goods to make ends meet.
But after buying a Chinese electric motorbike in Cuba last week, he can now put exhausting public transport off his list of daily worries.
“Electric motorcycles are solving many problems in Cuba. It’s a good solution and one of the most economical,” Cortina told Reuters, proud to show off his new lime green scooter.
Cuba’s streets have changed little in the six decades since former leader Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution: Old American cars with soot-filled exhaust pipes abound, sharing the plentiful potholes and light traffic.
But the sudden arrival of electric vehicles – already commonplace in the country – has proved a boon for many in a transportation-starved nation plagued by economic crisis.
Fuel in Cuba is almost always in short supply, with queues at petrol stations sometimes stretching for hours, if not days. Earlier this year, rising prices meant that a 40-litre tank of petrol can cost the average monthly salary of a state worker, out of reach for most Cubans.
Public transport is not pleasant at all. There are far fewer buses in Havana and half of the routes have been cut, according to state media.
A global boom in electric vehicle manufacturing has helped boost demand for companies like Caribbean Electric Vehicles (Vedca), says its director, Julio Oscar Perez.
The firm, a joint venture between Chinese investor Tianjin Dongxing Industrial and Cuban state-owned motorcycle manufacturer Minerva, has produced more than 2,000 scooters, bicycles, as well as minivans and tricycles in Cuba using Chinese parts.
“I think we are reaching a turning point,” Perez told Reuters in an interview. “That is, not only seeing it as an alternative to mobility, but to other alternatives that exist and that today are limiting fuel,” he added.
On a busy workday at the company’s plant outside Havana, some of Vedca’s 64 employees were assembling plastic parts, placing wires and nuts on an orderly assembly line, while others greeted customers arriving to pick up their motorcycles.
The government recently green-lighted imports of much more expensive electric vehicles, including luxury Teslas, though few in Cuba can afford such perks.
“Within a few years, practically all transportation will be electric,” said Cortina, who is pleased to be able to travel to and from work without the inconvenience of using public transportation.
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