High interest in electric vehicle purchases

With the potential to now save tens of thousands of dollars, Barbadians are showing increased interest in purchasing electric vehicles.

And Regional Product Manager, Vehicle Sales Department at Courtesy Garage, Samuel Gaston believes it is directly linked to Government’s recent decision to give an excise tax and VAT holiday on electric vehicles for two years, from the start of this month.

Gaston made the comments during the unveiling of Courtesy’s newest electric vehicle, the 2022 Nissan Leaf, on Thursday.

In last month’s Budget, Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that persons purchasing electric or hybrid vehicles would only have to pay the 10 per cent import duty for the next 24 months. She said the intention was to encourage Barbadians to make the switch from diesel and gas-powered vehicles as the country moves to become fossil fuel free by 2030.

Gaston said the move had seen the price of the Nissan Leaf drop significantly.

He said the vehicle now costs almost $30,000 less due to the tax reduction.

“The price of the car right now is $92,000. This is after the implementation of the recently introduced structure by the Government. Prior to that, the car was $120,000,” he said.

Gaston said the interest shown had been “tremendous”, disclosing that 95 per cent of the vehicles in stock were already gone.

“Since the announcement last month, we have had people waiting. Naturally, they did not want to make the purchase in March because the new implementation took effect from April 1, so we expect that in a very short space of time [the vehicles will be gone].

“I know that I did a check yesterday and 95 per cent of what we have on the ground is booked to go. We are already making contact with those customers, in terms of installing the charging stations at their homes or, in some instances, at their workplace,” Gaston said.

Touting the benefits of owning an electric vehicle, he said buyers could expect to see significant savings, with complete eradication of their fuel bills even though there will be a slight increase in their electricity bills.

“Let’s say you are spending $600 in fuel per month and you purchase an electric vehicle; the fuel saving is $600 right upfront because you no longer have to buy any fuel. The effect that you will have that you have to look at is the electric capacity that you are using, and from what we have seen it is probably a six-to-one ratio in terms of savings; which means if you spend $600 in fuel with an electric vehicle you will save that money but your electricity bill will increase by about $100 monthly,” Gaston explained.

He said Barbados was the only country in the region licensed to sell the Nissan Leaf, and that staff at Courtesy had been trained to service the vehicles, which he said was required only once annually.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb