EV ‘M 50’ on road as government vehicle upgrade begins

‘M 50’, the iconic registration for the personal car of every Prime Minister of Barbados since Errol Barrow, is on the plates of an electric upgrade of the PM’s Mercedes Benz M-Class midsize luxury SUV, the government announced Friday, as several state vehicles are to switch to either EV or hybrid drivetrains.

Minister of Home Affairs and Information Wilfred Abrahams said the decision to defer the replacement was taken until a suitable vehicle could be found.

“As we speak now, there’s a new M 50 on the road,” Abrahams told reporters during the year’s first post-Cabinet press conference. The new vehicle was “a replacement of a fair swap”, he said.

“The upgraded vehicle [is] pretty much the same version of the vehicle and [an] electric format, as was there before,” he said. “The Prime Minister was adamant that she was not changing her car until she can get an electric vehicle or suitable electric vehicle.”

Referring to the government’s policy to phase out fossil fuels by 2030, the home affairs minister said the government was “toeing the line with respect to that policy and we’re trying to phase out the use of the fossil fuel vehicles”.

He acknowledged that that upgrade has “not been easy”, adding: “The types of vehicles that we have had access to in our market have been very restrictive. I’ve spoken to some of the car dealers who have indicated that people keep, for example, asking ‘When are you bringing electric trucks?’. They are more interested in electric SUVs.”

Despite a growing public appetite for electric and hybrid cars, the government could not find the eco-friendly vehicles it wanted on the domestic market, the home affairs minister declared.

The government’s policy is to replace vehicles within its fleet with electric vehicles, and starting this year will proceed from the prime minister to judges, senior officials and other ministerial vehicles, Abrahams said.

“The replacement is [for] a maximum five-year [period],” he said. “Vehicles are replaced at least once every five years. The prime minister’s vehicle is over seven years old. So for two years, she has delayed until she could toe the line with respect to the policy of the government.

“So when you see a new ‘M 50’ on the road, it has nothing mysterious. It was well overdue for a change. The prime minister took a decision not to change until she can get a suitable vehicle that was electric in keeping with the government’s policy.”
(RG)