Many automakers – including major players like Volvo and General Motors – have already announced that within the next decade or two, the vehicles they manufacture will no longer have internal combustion engines but hybrid or electric motors. These vehicles will have less of a negative effect on Contact online >>
Many automakers – including major players like Volvo and General Motors – have already announced that within the next decade or two, the vehicles they manufacture will no longer have internal combustion engines but hybrid or electric motors. These vehicles will have less of a negative effect on the environment and with no gas bill, they will also have less of a negative effect on the pockets of consumers.
But for Trinidad and Tobago, that journey toward electrification has just begun. While countries, such as Barbados, already have an established industry, infrastructure and policy framework, TT is just beginning to open doors for the electric and hybrid vehicles industry to go full speed ahead.
This year that came in the form of a removal of all customs duties, motor vehicle tax and value-added tax on the importation of battery-powered electric vehicles with an age limit of two years from January, which was announced by the Finance Minister, Colm Imbert, in the reading of the 2021-2022 budget on October 4.
Even with the concessions, electric vehicles may still be out of range for many motorists when it comes to price, but hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Fielder and Aqua have developed popularity on the nation''s roads with almost little to no help from the government.
Industry professionals told Business Day that in order to catch up with the rest of the world in the electrification race, government must be bolder and put similar concessions on hybrid vehicles as was placed on electric.
Rhondall Feeles, vice president of the TT Automotive Dealers Association (TTADA), told Business Day that used car dealers saw the benefits of electric and hybrid vehicles from as early as 2012. Because of the collaboration of used car dealers, Feeles said TT now has about 40,000 hybrid vehicles on the roads – more than double the number of CNG vehicles, which stands at about 15,300.
"In 2013, the government wasn''t even thinking about e-cars, government wasn''t thinking about going green. They were looking at an alternative for when they remove fuel subsidies.
"We saw that it would be an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone – as subsidies are going to be removed and fuel prices go up, now you are going to have opportunities for even better alternatives going toward e-mobility, which would be the introduction of the hybrid cars and the electric cars."
At that point in time hybrids were becoming more popular. The Toyota Prius had gained a surge of popularity that helped several people make the switch from internal combustion engines to electric hybrid cars. But, Feeles said, government went down a different road with CNG vehicles.
In a recent panel discussion on TTT, Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young said government spent about $200 million on the campaign to establish a CNG industry. In that same discussion, he admitted that the industry was "not where it''s supposed to be" with a comparatively low number of CNG vehicles on the road.
Under the hood of the VOLVO XC 40 electric vehicle, distributed by Massy Motors. - SUREASH CHOLAI
But that is not to say that the state did not support hybrid and electric vehicles. In former finance minister Larry Howai''s 2015-2016 budget proposal, the People''s Partnership government exempted motor vehicle tax and VAT on new and used hybrid and electric-powered vehicles not older than two years. But for electric vehicles, the motor vehicle tax and VAT concessions were for vehicles with engine sizes less than 179 kilowatts.
The restrictions on the size of engines of electric vehicles meant that the cars available had a very short range, which, along with a limited number of charging stations led to range anxiety. That caused the early drive to electric vehicles to crash.
"Electric fell flat on its face. If in that five-year period 100 came, it would be plenty," Feeles said. "We needed government support for fully electric to work."
With the 2015 budget concessions on hybrids, Feeles said businesses were able to import a range of vehicles, including the Prius, the Nissan X-Trail, the Toyota CHR, and a list of other vehicles. But in the 2017-2018 budget – in the Rowley administration''s first term – Imbert put a cap on the concessions provided in 2015, removing all incentives available to hybrid vehicles with engines exceeding 1599 cc.
To add to this, the policy which exempted vehicles from tax had a sunset clause which came into effect in 2020 and was not extended. Feeles said because of this, people were pushed backward to once again look at combustion engines for affordability.
"When they introduced the taxes they cut the range of vehicles down to half. Now the things that became more available were the Fielder, the Axio, the Aqua, those lower cc ratings," Feeles said. "If the policies had remained the way they were and government decided to support the electric hybrid as well as CNG, we would have been further ahead. More people would have left internal combustion engines and would own hybrid vehicles, ready to take the next step to fully electric."
Vir Sieunarine, brand manager for Volvo, distributed by Massy Motors, said government is now taking the right steps to develop a legislative framework to keep the country on the path to electrification.
With the launch of the new Volvo showroom last Wednesday and the introduction of new fully electric vehicles, he added that Volvo had always led the charge behind electrification of the motor vehicle industry worldwide and with its innovations and adherence to quality products with a range of safety features, the Swedish automaker is now paving the way for others to follow.
"When I first started seven years ago, Volvo cars were all combustion engines. They made the bold statement that all their vehicles would be either hybrid or electric by 2025. That has now come to light. As of now we cannot get a combustion engine car from Volvo. Everything is hybrid or electric."
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