By The Star Staff
District 4 (San Juan) Rep. Víctor Parés Otero is scheduled to meet with Edwin González Montalvo, the designated secretary of the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP by its acronym in Spanish), in the coming days to assess the progress of a program aimed at installing charging stations for electric vehicles along Puerto Rico’s busiest roads.
“The establishment of a support infrastructure, particularly for charging, is essential to promote the use of electric vehicles in Puerto Rico,” said Parés, who chairs the House Government Committee, on Monday. “We believe that the annual sales of these vehicles will significantly increase if a charging network is developed, as one does not currently exist in its entirety. The designated DTOP secretary has been proactive in making this network a reality, and we want his insights to explore how we can expedite the process from the House of Representatives.”
Parés made the comments following a report from the United Group of Auto Importers, indicating that 1,356 electric vehicles were sold in 2024, a decrease of 36.5% compared to 2,136 vehicles sold in 2023.
“We understand that one reason for the significant drop in sales is the lack of infrastructure,” the lawmaker said. “Therefore, in addition to reviewing the status of current projects, we aim to evaluate the possibility of proposing legislation that encourages the use of electric vehicles, making the charging network crucial.”
“Furthermore, we will consider the incentive to exempt taxes on the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles, as this currently represents up to 10 percent of the market annually,” he added. “That is something we have yet to accomplish.”
The first phase of the project, authorized by the Federal Highway Commission, focuses on developing charging stations on highways PR-52 from San Juan to Ponce, PR-2 from Ponce to Hatillo, and PR-22 from Hatillo to San Juan. This phase has already been funded and is currently in the permitting stage.
For the second phase, the Highway and Transportation Authority has proposed state highways PR-3, PR-53, PR-54 and PR-66.
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