Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Latin America's first car dealership offering Rivian, another electric vehicles company from the USA, recently open to the public in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Video in Spanish of a review of the Rivian R1T in Santo Domingo.
Another detail the guy gives in rhe video is that already the DR is the third country in Latin America with the most Tesla's (as far as I know, the DR's president is the only one in the world with a Tesla and he uses it as an official car, lol).
Here is the Tesla of the DR's president getting the 01 license plate put on all the cars of the president. lol
In addition, he also says (39:17) that the DR is the first country in America (after the USA) to offer the following electric vehicles:
- Tesla S (this is the most sold electric vehicle brand in the DR)
- Nissan Lift
- Tesla Y
- Mercedes Benz EQC
- Rivian R1T
There are others electric vehicles in the Dominican market. For example, this guy in Santo Domingo gives a review (in Spanish) of his BMW i3 (no longer in production but was in production at the time of this review, now it has been replaced by the BMW i4).
The question that arises is where do prople charge their electric cars in the DR other than at home? Well, Evergo developed a nationwide network of electric chargers ranging from parking lots of supermarkets, banks, airports and other places. It has become so thick in such a short time, that now most people are not too far from an electric charger in the DR. Evergo has been in the country for one year going to two.
This guy shows how he charge this electric vehicle in the DR (also in Spanish, but he does a good job at showing every aspect for non-Spanish speakers). The car is an MG. This brand is not available in the USA as far as I know, but it's from the UK. In fact, notice he takes out from the trunk a converter that comes with the vehicle, because the DR uses a different type of charging stations thsn in Europe. MG vehicles in the DR are European ones.
These are all the chargers they curreb¡ntly have in the DR. In the link you can click on each of them for further information. This one is in Spanish and English. https://evergo.com/mapa/?lang=en
In the following video from Sept 5, 2022; one of the founders of Evergó (it turns out this is a Dominican company, previously I thought it was a foreign company with presence in the DR) mentions several things including:
- The DR is already in third place in Latin America for penetration of electric cars.
Bte, despite the video is in Spanish, you can activate the CC and have it automatically translate to English. Press the button on the right to start the process.
Evergó is not just in Dominican Republic despite being a Dominican company and still expanding in the country. They have entered Jamaica, Aruba, Panama, and now has one charging station in Spain which is their first there. They will be entering soon Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The company is also studying the markets in the USA, Canada and elsewhere to enter and put their chargers. Evergó is probably the largest of its kind in the Caribbean and possibly in Latin America despite they started quite recently in 2018.
I'm shocked they haven't enter Puerto Rico yet, though they probably will be there once they start entering the USA due to USA regulations which usually extend to PR.
The DR itself has been going through a boom of registration of electric vehicles from less than 50 in 2018 to over 3,000 in 2021.
Political instability in Haiti is probably preventing the company from expanding there, though once that's under control and the country becomes stable again Evergó chargers should appear there, especially in Port-au-Prince. Right now the Dominican embassy there is closed and all personnel were flown by helicopter back to Santo Domingo a few weeks ago. Several other countries did the same such as the USA. Without an embassy, new companies from other countries can't enter Haiti since usually the embassies play an active role in the registration and orienting investors on the ways of doing business in other countries (culture and bureaucratic procedures from the government, plus the laws which dictates what can and can't be done, taxes, etc). Not having an embassy also poses challenges from any citizens of those countries found there and in need of help either to get out or something else, since that help is no longer there.
I don't expect them to enter Cuba anytime soon. The DR has no embargo with Cuba and there is a Dominican embassy in Havana, but with the economic system they have they probably don't sell many new cars on a yearly basis, nevermind electric ones. With this said, there are many Dominican companies doing business in Cuba. In Cuban supermarkets where they sell imported goods there are some Dominican products, such as one of the products of BALDOM (from Santiago, DR) in the following video taken in Cuba. Looking at this video you can tell Cubans are buying from that brand. lol
Hm, I wonder if there are any BALDOM commercials in Cuba such as the following one in the DR? Considering Cuba isn't capitalist in any way, I doubt it.
From June 2 to 4, 2023 the Dominican Republic had its largest electric vehicles expo in Santo Domingo (Feria Expo Movilidad Sostenible 2023 - Sustainable Mobility Expo 2023). The guy hosting the followin video is actually a Costa Rican and he traveled from Costa Rica to the DR simply to be present at this expo. I'm not completely sure, but at the moment the DR could be the largest electric vehicle market in Central America & the Caribbean. This means there is probably a larger selection of electric car makes and models in the DR, so events like this will have more vehicles than what could exist right now in his native Costa Rica (which also has a nicely developing electric cars market).
The following videos are in Spanish, but they do offer automatic translation to English via their CC capability.
What knowing Spanish is useless for is seeing the variety of vehicles currently in the Dominican electric vehicle market. Here are some of them which includes some makes and/of models not available in the USA.
The Chinese BYD has several electric models in the Dominican market. That one in light blue is probably their smallest.
Volcon is also in the DR offering their electric motorcycles and bicycles. Nice designs of some of their models.
This I've seen before and is my favorite electric SUV. A Skywell from China. Nicely designed inside and out. I have also heard the quality is very good, which is remarkable as most things that comes from China have quality as an issue.
The interior cabin of the Skywell is nicely done. I used to complain that electric cars had interiors that seem too simple, not to my liking. Well, that's part of the past. lol
I also like the rear of the Skywell. It looks rather unique when the entire rear is taken into account.
Fly E-Bike which offers electric motorcycles and bicycles.
This video is of that guy talking about the company of electric motorcylces only, gives a review of the electric motorcycle he recently bought (the black one shown there), and about the only electric motorcycle club in the DR at the moment.
Lastly, this guy shows this old VW Beetle converted to electric (he was the mechanic that did the conversion.) The first old electric VW that I've seen. Who knows, could be the world's only electric one at the moment.
Obviously, there are others shown very quickly (such as the Peugeot, Cenntro, Volvo, MG, Tesla, Rivian, etc) and others that were never shown in any of the videos, but it gives an idea of the current variety available in the DR. I think it's obvious that the ones shown in this post are mostly vehicles not available in the USA (Puerto Rico goes by whatever is available in the mainland USA. Despite that, I wouldn't be surprised if Puerto Rico is one of the largest market for electric vehicles in the Caribbean. There is the US embargo in Cuba, though for obvious reasons even if their was none the variety of electric vehicles available there would be limited since hardly anyone can afford one.) This forum is frequented mostly by people in the USA, makes sense to see whatelse is out there.
If there's any country in LatAm to pilot these, its the DR. I've always been impressed with the logistics and infrastructure support for LPG vehicles. The market for alternative energy has been much more welcoming and accepted there.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
