According to the ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad ) China has announced the donation of six electric buses to Costa Rica.
The donation was made through a memorandum of understanding signed between the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) of Costa Rica and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China. The document provides the general guidelines for the delivery and reception of the six buses.
The donated units will not emit greenhouse gases into the environment due to the conformation of Costa Rica’s electricity matrix. Their arrival is planned for 2023.
ICE, as the institution promoting electromobility, will receive the buses and will analyze the different business models for incorporating these units into Costa Rica’s public transportation services over the next few months.
“Electric mobility is here to stay and is our route to the decarbonization of the transportation sector and our economy by 2050”, said Claudia Dobles, First Lady and promoter of electric mobility.
In this regard, the Minister of Environment and Energy, Andrea Meza Murillo, highlighted the importance of this type of donations in the middle of the third year of implementation of the National Decarbonization Plan.
“Once again, we are taking firm steps towards our goal that, by 2035, 30% of the public transportation fleet will be zero emissions, as stated in the Decarbonization Plan. There is an urgent need for a change towards a sustainable mobility scheme where we need to strengthen public transportation, modernize it, and promote this electrification process,” he added.
Hazel Cepeda, General Manager of ICE, emphasized that “the Institute will provide technical support in areas such as operating costs, infrastructure, charging and battery management, as well as the facilities offered by the buses”.
It is important to highlight that since 2021, three electric buses donated by the Government of the Republic of Germany have been circulating on national routes as part of a pilot project that has demonstrated how beneficial and possible the use of electric technology in public transportation in our country is.
