The public service vehicle (PSV) sector is well on its way to transitioning from the use of fossil fuels to electric-powered vehicles.
Chairman of the Alliance Owners of Public Transport (AOPT) Roy Raphael told the Sunday Sun the association was making good progress with the plan proposed by the Minister of Energy and Business (MEB), Senator Lisa Cummins, during a re-branding ceremony for the Barbados National Energy Company Limited, held three months ago at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Cummins disclosed that talks were previously held with transport service providers to discuss the sector’s transition.
“Those monies have now been received by Fund Access and together with Fund Access, the Ministry of Energy team, the Smart Energy Fund and AOPT and their teams, we are now designing a brand-new facility to finance the transition of the PSV sector into the electric sector,” she said.
Providing an update, Raphael said that key stakeholders have been engaged and proposals drafted to proceed with the transition, made even more important as the cost of fossil fuels fluctuated.
“It’s vital to us, because the transport industry consumes a large quantity of gas every month . . . . Fossil fuels go up and down in terms of cost and it has created some issues to provide what we call good public transport, particularly those persons who use our services after hours,” Raphael said.
“So once we have electric vehicles in place, we should see an improvement in the services. We should see more people working.”
Further emphasising the necessity of the transition, Raphael explained that an operator could spend as much as $300 in gas per day for a large PSV unit (minibus), while the ZR class could use up to $170 per day.
With high expectations for the change, the chairman predicted it would offer greater opportunities for employment within public bus transportation, and also encourage taxi operators, hired car businesses and other players in the sector to take part in the transition.
Raphael acknowledged that the vision of a full fleet of electrically-powered PSVs might not be realised for at least the next decade, but believed the public should expect to see the majority of vehicles make the transition in the coming years.
Plans were also laid out for alternative forms of renewable energy such as natural gas, solarpowered and hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, and collaborations with the Ministry of Energy and Business would ensure public awareness of the transition to renewable energy.
“During the transition, we’re more interested in first phase education, and then second phase implementation, because of lack of interest as shown by some people. Education will be very critical, and then implementation will also be critical,” the chairman said.
“We will have to send a team off to China, which developed a majority of electric vehicles. . . And then we’re also in a position now to send a team to Trinidad very shortly in order to look at other energy alternatives such as natural gas.”
He further disclosed the launch of the Zippy Electric Taxi, an offshoot of the electric vehicle initiative.
“This is a small taxi that is expected to hit the road very shortly. It’s not the traditional airporttype taxi, but this one is geared to be more of a shuttle that works around a vicinity. We are going to do that as an [experiment] shortly. So within the next two weeks or so, we should be launching,” he revealed.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Association of Public Transport Owners Anwar Nana noted they were looking to other forms of renewable energy, such as Bio-CNG (compressed natural gas) vehicles powered by sargassum seaweed.
Nana noted that while $3 million in funding was provided for the transition, the cost of the electric units might limit the number of cars that could be provided.
“So out of that $3 million, is about 15 vehicles that can be covered at around $200 000 each and that is at the low end. Some are maybe $300 000, so it’s pretty limited at this stage, but I guess if it takes off, Government will be able to provide more funding.
“There is a proposal by the rum and sargassum sector . . . they are looking to provide clean energy fuel, which would be the rum and sargassum, and that is also in the works. We are looking to proceed with that in the coming months once they are up and running,” he said. ( JRN)
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