“It’s
no secret that the future of the automotive industry is electric and that
electric cars are set to overtake the sales of conventionally powered cars
within the next decade”
CEO of the ATL Group
and Sandals Resorts, Adam Stewart on plans to establish an islandwide network
of Electric Vehicle charging stations
Electric
Cars are coming to Jamaica.
This
as the JPS (Jamaica Public Service Company) is in the process of setting up
partnerships to put the infrastructure in place for Electric Charging stations
as noted in the article “Fuel
Companies, JPS In Talks Over Electric Charging Stations”,
published Wednesday June 19, 2019 by Karena Bennett, The Jamaica Gleaner.
JPS's
national pilot programme for a network of EV charging stations will be launched
by March 2020. Each of these charging stations will be within a 30-kilometre
radius of each other, easing anxieties about electric vehicles having a poor
range per charge.
Already they are in talks with the Office of Utilities Regulation on pricing the energy distributed at the EV stations. Interestingly too, the JPS co is doing this in partnership with partnership with two (2) petroleum marketing companies:
1. Total
Jamaica
2. GB
Energy/Texaco Jamaica
3. Rubis
Energy Jamaica Limited
French-owned
petroleum company Total Jamaica now has a network of 74 retail stations. They
expect to have 2 more stations, one in Old Harbour Road in St Catherine and
another in Clarendon, making the total up to 76 potential charging points that
can be converted to charge Electric Vehicles.
They've
also partnered with AC Hotel by Marriott, a property newly developed by the
Stewart family-owned Sandals Resorts International, who also have bigger plans
for an islandwide network.
Mauricio
Pulido, CEO of GB Energy/Texaco Jamaica, has said that, quote: “….but nothing
is set in stone yet” however, “We will disclose more information as soon as we
have more solid ground on this”.
This
move by JPS to partner with Stewart Family and the Gas stations is strategic as
in as I had predicted in my blog
article entitled “AC
Hotel Kingston Electric Car Charging is ATL Automotive push for Jamaican EV
adoption”.
This is their bid to move towards establish an islandwide network of charging stations to carter mainly to tourists and visitors who will the initial early adopters and then regular people as EV adoption picks up pace.
Good
to note here that Total Jamaica is still; mulling the significance of the deal
to them, being as they are still in the business of selling gasolene and Diesel
following acquisition of Epping Oil Company Limited fuel distribution business
earlier in 2019.
Still,
they are prepared; they already have products ready for All Electric Vehicles as
Network Manager Howard Henry said, “Yes, we have met with them. In fact, Total
just launched a lubricant in France that is going to be one of the first
lubricants available in Jamaica for electric vehicles. So we are right up the
stream in terms of providing for the future …,”
So
how will this benefit the Stewart family business?
ATL Automotive and
Electric Vehicles - 40% of imports will be electric vehicle imports by 2030
ATL
Automotive, owned by the Stewart family, is now in talks with regards to an
islandwide electric charging station rollout, possibly involving franchising.
They plan to start as follows:
1. ATL
dealerships in Kingston and Montego Bay
2. ATL
and Sandals Resorts International group company properties
3. Customers’
homes
4. Public
spaces
For
them, partnering with the JPS made sense, as it will benefit both their hotel
business as well as their Automotive business as pointed out by CEO of the ATL
Group and Sandals Resorts, Adam Stewart, quote: “Partnering with JPS was a
no-brainer. We wanted to make our new hotel completely future-proof and we
expect to see a large number of electric or hybrid cars in the coming months
and years. We approached JPS with the idea and were thrilled to discover they
shared our passion and vision for the future of our industry”.
He predicts that by 2030 electric vehicle imports will hit 40%. Hence their partnership with JPS on the installation of the electric vehicle charging stations at AC Hotel by Marriott.
For
this reason, they see this as a strategic move to take advantage of the
inevitable and makes sales from Electric Vehicles, quote: “As one of country’s
leading automotive companies, we’re in exciting dialogue with the car
manufacturers we represent on the introduction of electric cars to
Jamaica......it’s our responsibility to not only drive awareness around the
technology behind electric cars but also prepare ourselves as a business and
our customers”.
So
how does this translate in terms of the cost of the vehicles top consumers?
Electric Vehicles and
Jamaicans - Government can do more to encourage adoption
ATL
Automotive Group currently sells hybrid models of luxury brands Porsche and
BMW.
These
are electric vehicles that have a gasolene engine that chips in every time the
vehicles is going at a higher speed, but switches back to electric at lower
speeds.
A
goofed example of a hybrid is the 2019 Mini Cooper Countryman Plug-In Hybrid as
described in my blog
article entitled “Why
the 2019 Mini Cooper Countryman Plug-In Hybrid heralds Electric and Hybrids by
2030”.
ATL Automotive Group currently operates five divisions:
1. ATL
Automotive exclusively for Honda, Volkswagen and Audi vehicles
2. ATL
Autobahn for the distribution, sales and service of brands BMW and MINI
3. ATL
Motor Sports for Porsche vehicles
4. ATL
Tiger Motors for Kia
5. ATL
Automotive Rentals
According
to a rate sheet published by the Customs Agency of Jamaica,
1. 60%
import duty on the total cost of the electric vehicles
2. 87.5%
import duty on the total cost of the hybrid vehicles
Hybrid
vehicles also attract:
1. 21.5%
in GCT (General Consumption Tax)
2. JA$55,000
in Customs Administrative Fee for new vehicles
3. JA$69,862.50
in Customs Administrative Fee for used vehicles
This
is still lower than a gas-powered vehicle exceeding 1000cc, with the only
exception being 2000cc engines, an indication that the government is trying to
get Jamaicans to buy vehicles with lower fuel consumption. Also, for importers
of gas-powered vehicle, they have the following costs to consider:
1. 112.5%
Custom duties
2. 10%
special consumption tax
3. 21.5%
GCT
So
clearly, there is a coming cost benefit to owning an electric vehicles; lower
purchase price. This will be even lower once the government removes the 60%
import duty on Electric Vehicles as explained in my blog
article entitled “JPS,
USAID and How removing 60% import duty on Electric Vehicle will reduce
Jamaica's Oil Bill”.
Ok,
but what about charging of these Electric Vehicles? How long will it take to
charge them? Will it be billed to the Gas stations?
JPS and Electric
Charging Stations - Fast Charging but Solar for home owners by 2030
JPS
plans to speed up the deployment of these Electric Vehicles charging stations
via doing the following:
1. Build,
own and operate the charging stations on the properties of its partners
2. Independent
connections to the grid to ensure fast and reliable charging speeds
3. Gas
stations will not be billed for electricity used to charge Electric Vehicles
The
Charging stations will be configured as follows:
1. Fast-charging
stations for drivers to charge and go
2. Medium-speed
charging stations for drivers who want to visit business places or shopping
areas nearby
3. Three
(3) vehicles can charge at a time during this 15 minute wait
4. Charging
stations will be within a 30-kilometre radius of each other
The
utility intends to install charging ports that can fit almost any vehicle, to
quote Acting senior vice-president of business development at JPS, Dionne
Nugent: “There are specialised vehicles that have their peculiarities, like
Tesla, so you probably can’t get public charging for those, but we are not
ruling it out. However, for our initial roll-out we want to make them as
universal as possible so that there is no real challenge”.
Using a fast charger, it takes about 15 minutes for an Electric Vehicle to be fully charged. The vehicle owner will pay for the charging of the vehicles, which is expected to a lot cheaper when compared in terms of units of equivalent energy in terms of gasoline and electricity and mileage of these vehicles, as they are more fuel efficient as noted in the article “Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Coming Soon – Islandwide Coverage by Next Year”, published June 12, 2019, JPS.
So like it or not, Electric Vehicle will be coming to Jamaica by 2030. If this works out, it will definately catch on with the regular consumer, especially as electricity rates are trending down and homeowners can charge their vehicles via using solar charging.