By The Star Staff
Seeking to encourage the use of electric vehicles in Vieques, the mayor of that offshore island municipality, José “Junito” Corcino Acevedo, signed a collaborative agreement with the assistant secretary of energy affairs, who works out of the Office of the Governor, for the acquisition of an electric vehicle and several charging stations.
“Yesterday [Monday] we signed a collaborative agreement with … the engineer and friend Francisco Berríos, which enables us to enter the revolution of electric transport systems with the acquisition of a new electric vehicle and charging stations for the municipality and the community,” Corcino said Tuesday in a press release. “We do this with the purpose of motivating the use of these vehicles on our island, thus mitigating the impact on the environment and reducing transportation costs for everyone.”
“The governor is leading the effort to switch to electric power vehicles as a measure to conserve the environment and reduce expenses associated with gasoline,” the mayor added. “In Vieques we are going to enter this revolution with a network of unique charging stations that will provide the necessary infrastructure to encourage the use of these vehicles by our people.”
Recent data from the commonwealth Highways and Transportation Authority estimates that between 1,500 and 3,500 electric vehicles currently travel on Puerto Rico’s roads.
In order to meet the demand for the fuel used by those motor vehicles, that is, electricity, the administration of Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia announced last August that this year charging stations will be installed adjacent to state highways PR-2, PR-22 and PR-52 at different strategic points to meet demand and increase the use of electric vehicles; which are much friendlier to the environment than fossil fuel-based combustion engines.