QCOSTARICA – The province of Guanacaste strengthens its fast charging service for electric vehicles with three new points inaugurated by the electric cooperative Coopeguanacaste R.L.: On the boulevard of Playas del Coco, and at its offices located in Paquera and Nicoya.
By 2022, it will place another fast charger at the Flamingo Marina.
The enabling of these other fast charging points will allow those who live or visit places in these parts of Guanacaste and have an electric vehicle, to have the resource safely to move knowing that they have the facility.
“For Coopeguanacaste, R.L. joining in this effort to create the conditions for the use of this type of vehicles that use renewable sources shows the commitment to change towards the implementation of more responsible and sustainable ways of mobilizing and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels,” explained Miguel Gómez, general manager of Coopeguanacaste, RL
The fast or L3 chargers have a rate set by the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) that establishes an amount of 150 colones per minute of charging (price plus VAT).
Each charger will have a special dataphone installed through which, without the need to join any platform or have an application, users can charge and pay using their credit cards. Payment in cash or transfer will not be possible.
“The chargers we buy are 90 kW and with 3 connectors. In addition, the payment mechanism that we have planned is basically by using a credit card directly to the charger’s dataphone and without the need for any affiliation to any application,” explained Yuri Alvarado, Distribution Manager of Coopeguanacaste, R.L.
The investment in the recharging centers implies an investment for the Cooperative of around US$200,000 (¢128 million colones).
The 4 fast charging stations for electric vehicles join the charging stations that Coopeguanacaste, R.L installed in 2018 in its branches in Nicoya, Huacas de Santa Cruz, Sardinal de Carrillo and the Coopeguanacaste, R.L. central offices in Santa Cruz.
The downtown Nicoya charger will go to the Juanilama Solar Park of Coopeguanacaste, R.L. located in Belén de Carrillo on Route 21 and will be replaced by a new one with fast charging and the one that was in Nicoya
With the approval in 2017 of the Ley Incentivos y promoción para el transporte eléctrico (Incentives and Promotion Law for Electric Transportation), a legal framework is established that, among other things, will make it possible to import electric vehicles with tax exemptions that will benefit users and those who bet on this type of mobility.
Greenhouse gas impact reduction with electric vehicles
Costa Rica is internationally recognized for its efforts in generating electricity from renewable sources; However, in terms of transportation, the country has a great debt due to its high consumption of hydrocarbons.
The country’s electricity generation in recent years has been with clean sources between 98.2% and 99%, but the consumption of fossil fuels increased due to the growth in the number of vehicles.
The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) through the National Electric Transportation Plan 2018-2030 estimates that the transportation sector is responsible for 83% of hydrocarbon consumption and that it generates 54% of the country’s CO2 emissions. Of that percentage, 41% comes from private cars.
The reduction of the impact on the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) with the incorporation of electric vehicles could reach 14.5 million tons of CO2 by 2050, according to MINAE forecasts, hence the importance of supporting the electric mobility plans, building infrastructure, generating facilities for the acquisition of vehicles, technically training specialists in these cars and developing electricity and public transport tariff methodologies.
