Back in December 15,2017 the Electric Transportation bill was approved by Costa Rica´s congress; this bill promotes the use of electric vehicles by making them more affordable by establishing several tax exemptions of even 100% depending on the cost of the car.

The President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, signed the law this week, making it official, Ïn a few years the transportation fleet will transform, including cars, buses and trains. This is something many countries aspire to and Costa Rica has all the conditions to make it happen¨, stated the president during the official act.

In order to offer users of electric cars all the conditions necessary and promote the use of the same, the country has been working in creating new charging stations in different parts of the country, currently there are 13 stations, but the Costa Rica Electricity Institute (ICE) expects to install at least 17 more this year. The goal is to have a charging station every 80 kilometers.

“To make this accessible to everyone we have to leave the fear behind and create the necessary infrastructure. This way we start giving credibility and trust. We can’t just try to make it accessible to everyone from one moment to the other. In Costa Rica installing 17 charge stations is rational, since this is an evolution process where little by little we will create the benefits and adequate infrastructure” explained Rayner Garcia, Technology advisor in Innovation and Smart Electric Networks for ICE.

Four car agencies are ready to bring more electric cars to the country taking advantage of the new law, among them: Grupo Q with the Hyundai Ioniq (which used to cost $38,535 and with the new law it will run approx. $32,850) and the Chevy Bolt; Datsun-Nissan with the Nissan Leaf (price went rom $44,900 to $39,800); BMW with the I3 and Grupo Automotriz with the Ford Focus.

Currently, out of the 1.4 million cars in the streets of Costa Rica only 300 are 100% electric; the expectation is that this number will begin to grow as a result of these changes and that by 2035 Costa Rica will have over 100 thousand electric cars on the streets.