LIMA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Peru's interest in electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids has revived in recent months, driven by greater awareness of such vehicles' benefits to users, a local industrial expert said.
"There has been a significant increase in the sale of these vehicles and the push being given comes basically from the private sector," said Alberto Morisaki, the manager of Economic Studies at the Peruvian Automotive Association (AAP).
Carmakers are entering this market segment with new models "at competitive prices," Morisaki said in an interview with Xinhua on Thursday.
In the first quarter, light electric vehicle sales reached 744 units, up by 136 percent from a year ago, showed data from the AAP.
In 2021, some 1,450 units were sold, a figure the association expects to "easily" surpass in 2022 with the sale of some 2,000 electric cars, he said.
The key to the jump in sales is educational campaigns launched by carmakers and their marketing firms promoting the advantages of driving EVs, he added.
"More information is being given by the brands about the use of these vehicles, not just about the savings in terms of fuel consumption, now with gasoline being so expensive, but also their savings in terms of maintenance costs, since they have many fewer parts than an internal combustion vehicle," Morisaki said.
The cost of running an EV is 60 percent to 70 percent lower than a standard automobile, he noted.
For those concerned about how far EVs can go, Morisaki said they can now run more than 400 km on a full charge, so today this issue "is no longer a problem."
Concerns about air pollution are also driving sales, Morisaki said, as people become more aware of the importance of living in a "good" environment that reduces the chances of disease or death due to cardiovascular or respiratory problems.
"People are also more aware of the benefits of using these vehicles in regard to pollution. That is, they emit less polluting gases into the atmosphere, less particulate matter. In the case of electric vehicles, that emission is zero," said the industry expert. ■
