Costa Rica June 2020

Hyundai leads hot market

After a long absence on EV Sales, we have again information on Costa Rica, for years there we have been hearing about this market, as being one of the most forward-looking in Latin America, but no one really knew how big the EV market was there, but now we have the answer.

In a country that runs almost exclusively on renewable power, EV's here are a no brainer, as they will run greener than in most places on Earth, while also helping with the dream of a self-sufficient country.

All you need is to replace all ICE cars by EV's...

And with this in mind, the local charging infrastructure is expanding fast, by December it is expected that the WHOLE country will be covered by DC charging, with distances between each fast-charger being no longer than 80 kms! Now that's something that EV drivers across the world would love to have in their countries... 

On top of that, the local infrastructure has a unique singularity, besides the usual CCS and Chademo DC chargers, they also have the Chinese GB/T charging standard, as there are seven Chinese brands deploying their EVs here, including some EV Exotica, like Xpeng, with their G3 SUV, with Costa Rica being one of the first (the first?) export markets for the young startup.

So this could be also one of the first markets to have a taste at the flagship Xpeng P7, which will make many others jealous...    

But we digress, back to this year sales, there were 339 new EVs registered in Costa Rica, it might not sound a lot, but then again the local automotive market is not that big, more important is the EV Share, that sits at 1,5%, which is the highest in Latin America and higher than countries like Japan...

The best selling EV is the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, followed by the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3, and with the Hyundai Kona EV said to land soon, expect the Korean maker to expand siginificantly its lead over the competition soon..

Outside the podium, we have the #4 Audi e-Tron and in #5 the first Chinese, the BYD Yuan EV, with the Shenzhen maker leading the Chinese brands, thanks to a strong (and complete - 6 models!) lineup.

And while 1,5% EV share in new registrations is already something to write about, if we add second hand imports, the numbers almost triple, with over 1,000 units (1,140, to be precise) joining the local fleet this year.

Add 3 e-Buses on the streets and 12 others that were already ordered, and hundreds of 2-wheelers, and it seems Costa Rica is doing its home work right.