ATL Automotive and JPS islandwide Network of Electric Charging Stations by 2020

“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.