IEEE Electrification - June 2019 - 32

TABLE 4. The incentive needed per country
to make EVs as cost effective as IC vehicles,
considering a driving distance of 20,000 km
and 6 years of ownership (values rounded up).
Country

Required
Incentive (US$)

Incentive/UpFront Cost (%)

Argentina

25,821

Bolivia

11,545

Brazil

10,270

Chile

9,942

Colombia

16,391

Costa Rica

EVs are already cost effective

Ecuador

12,149

El Salvador

8,060

Guatemala

11,498

Honduras

4,308

Mexico

6,517

Nicaragua

6,995

Panama

1,557

Paraguay

4,135

Peru

8,339

Uruguay

4,759

reductions or exemptions to these types of taxes to lower
the up-front cost of EVs, which is one of the main barriers
to EV ownership. Incentives that reduce the yearly costs of
owning and/or using EVs are also deployed in the region,
but these have a lower impact on the economics of EVs.
Waivers on driving restrictions (e.g., license-plate-based
restrictions) and dedicated parking spaces are two suitable
nonfinancial incentives, as their implications are usually
low. The allowance to use bus-only lanes, however, can
be detrimental to urban transportation sustainability,
because it may result in more people leaving the public
transportation system.

Charging Infrastructure
Public charging infrastructure is important to promote the
uptake of EVs (see the "Charge Ready Program from
Southern California Edison" for initiatives in the United
States). There are multiple online platforms that report
location, availability, and other information related to public charging stations, particularly for level 2 (semirapid)
and level 3 (fast). There are approximately 628 level 2 chargers (90.5%) and 66 level 3 chargers (9.5%) in Latin America. Overall, Mexico, Brazil, and Costa Rica are leading in
the region, with 85% of the total (level 2 plus level 3) public
chargers. Costa Rica is making significant progress in
terms of public chargers, and, as a result of a recently
enacted law, charging stations must be placed strategically.

I E E E E l e c t r i f i cati o n M agaz ine / J UN E 2019

We presented a methodology for this purpose that aims to
provide sufficient resources to reach every corner of the
country. This methodology can be adopted in other Latin
American countries (and internationally) where charging
infrastructure has yet to be defined.

Cost of Owning an EV
The cost effectiveness of EVs, compared with IC vehicles,
can be understood through a TCO analysis. We presented
a simplified methodology that allows the quantification of
total expenditures (as net present values) of the up-front,
operation, and maintenance costs paid every year of vehicle possession. Given the set of assumptions (due to data
unavailability), the results show that EVs in Costa Rica are
already effective when people drive more than 20,000 km
per year and own the vehicle for at least 6 years. EVs in
Panama and Uruguay become cost effective after 8 and 9
years if people still drive 20,000 km per year. Maintaining
this yearly driving distance, people in all the other Latin
American countries require more than 10 years of ownership or the introduction of financial incentives that reduce
the up-front cost of EVs. The developed TCO methodology
was adapted to quantify the financial incentives needed
per country to make EVs as cost effective by 2025. On average, the region requires a reduction of 22% in the retail
cost of EVs, which could be achieved through tax cuts.

For Further Reading
International Energy Agency, "Global EV outlook 2018: Towards
cross-modal electrification," Paris, France, May 2018. [Online].
Available: https://webstore.iea.org/global-ev-outlook-2018
J. A. Gómez-Gélvez, C. Hernán Mojica, V. Kaul, and L. Isla,
The Incorporation of Electric Cars in Latin America, Inter-American
Development Bank, 2016.[Online]. Available: https://publications
.iadb.org/publications/english/document/The-Incorporationof-Electric-Cars-in-Latin-America.pdf
J. Quirós-Tortós et al., "Propuesta de ubicación de la infraestructura de recarga rápida para vehículos eléctricos en Costa
Rica," Sept. 2018. [Online]. Available: https://sepse.go.cr/documentos/
Propuesta-de-ubicacion-de-L3.pdf.
J. Quirós-Tortós, L. F. Ochoa, and T. Butler, "How electric
vehicles and the grid work together: Lessons learned from
one of the largest electric vehicle trials in the world," IEEE
Power Energy Mag., vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 64-76, Nov.-Dec. 2018. doi:
10.1109/MPE.2018.2863060.
Southern California Edison, "Charge Ready Program-Fact
sheet." [Online]. Available: https://www1.sce.com/wps/wcm/
connect/ff38bcac-8460-47ff-81d0-66ec4c3d7887/Charge_
Ready_EVSE_Fact_Sheet.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

Biographies
Jairo Quirós-Tortós (jairoquirostortos@ieee.org) is with the
University of Costa Rica.

Luis Victor-Gallardo (luis.fdo.victor.g@gmail.com) is
with the University of Costa Rica.
Luis (Nando) Ochoa (luis_ochoa@ieee.org) is with the
University of Melbourne, Australia, and the University of
Manchester, United Kingdom.

https://webstore.iea.org/global-ev-outlook-2018 https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/The-Incorporation-of-Electric-Cars-in-Latin-America.pdf https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/The-Incorporation-of-Electric-Cars-in-Latin-America.pdf https://sepse.go.cr/documentos/Propuesta-de-ubicacion-de-L3.pdf https://sepse.go.cr/documentos/Propuesta-de-ubicacion-de-L3.pdf https://www1.sce.com/wps/wcm/connect/ff38bcac-8460-47ff-81d0-66ec4c3d7887/Charge_Ready_EVSE_Fact_Sheet.pdf?MOD=AJPERES https://www1.sce.com/wps/wcm/connect/ff38bcac-8460-47ff-81d0-66ec4c3d7887/Charge_Ready_EVSE_Fact_Sheet.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

IEEE Electrification - June 2019

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