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BiggerPunta Cana will welcome first fast-charging station for electric vehicles
Punta Cana.- The Caribbean’s inaugural fast-charging station for electric vehicles, known as an “electrolinera,” is set to commence operations in Punta Cana in the coming weeks. With 29 dispensers providing 225 kW of power, the initiative, led by the Latin American Association of Sustainable Mobility in collaboration with Evergo Connect and the Dominican Electric Mobility Association, boasts an approximate cost of $7 million.
Oscar San Martín, the General Manager of Evergo Connect, emphasized that the station will feature hyper-fast and non-super-fast charging modes, significantly reducing the average charging time to approximately 15 minutes.
Roberto Herrera, the Executive Director of the Punta Cana Macao Energy Consortium (CEPM), revealed additional user services such as restaurants, children’s entertainment rooms, coworking spaces, and an innovative facility for exchanging electric batteries for motorcycles.
The project also includes the construction of the FV3 photovoltaic park, generating around 25 megawatts, with a unique capacity for 40 megawatts of long-term battery storage. Herrera highlighted the park’s four-hour usage capacity, ensuring continuous service while more powerful batteries are developed.
This initiative aligns with the Dominican Republic’s goal of increasing renewable generation from 16% to 30% by 2030 in the electricity sector. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) supports such projects, and during the Annual Assembly of Governors of IDB, which took place in Punta Cana, they backed this investment through IDB Invest.
Given the challenges and targets in the Dominican Republic’s electricity sector, these strategic investments play a pivotal role, including electrification projects such as the one in Saona Island. Additionally, BID Lab, the innovation arm of the IDB, supports a public-private program for the exchange of 2,000 combustion motorcycles with electric ones for home delivery services in the Greater Santo Domingo area.
Katmandu Park…Part 2.
When consumers catch on to the very high cost of replacing worn out batteries… the market for all electric vehicles may not be able to reach the sales levels the EV manufacturers envisioned. The most viable market will be hybrid vehicles, notably here in the RD. Hybrids are self-sustained, not dependent on charging stations. The supplies of energy of the national electric grid will not be able to sustain the country’s demand of EV vehicles needing charges when it cannot supply uninterrupted power for the general public and commercial needs. The country at this time cannot assemble sufficient electric battery storage stations to provide unceasing power for the public. In this questionable environment EV vehicle charging stations will need their own storage to maintain sustainability. It will make charging costly for the consumers.
Consumers are tired of getting gouged by skyrocketing oil prices. $2.1B each year of people’s hard earned money goes straight out the door to other countries just to import oil. It’s a major national security risk to the RD not having control over their transportation energy, a literal anchor around the neck of the country.
The grid has been powered by fossil fuels for decades so if anything is to blame for being unreliable it’s the fossil fuels industry.