The president of the Federation of Transport Businessmen of the Canary Islands (FET), José Agustín Espino, has estimated at about 5,000 million euros the investment that would be needed for the Canarian fleet of trucks, buses, taxis, ambulances and VTC limousines to be electric.
In his speech at a conference on energy transition held this Thursday in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Espino said that the transport sector "is for decarbonization" but also wanted to make visible the high cost required by electrification in the Canary Islands where, in addition to changing the fleet, it would be necessary to create a suitable infrastructure.
Espino said that 14,000 trucks, 5,700 buses, 5,600 taxis, 450 ambulances and 220 VTC limousines circulate in the islands, and that achieving the goal of transforming these vehicles into electric ones by 2050 is difficult due to the high cost required, the advances that still need to be achieved for heavy vehicles, because the sector cannot afford it.
According to Espino, there are other alternatives that can be explored, less expensive and closer in time to reduce emissions through the use of biofuels and green hydrogen or new engines that leave less of a CO2 footprint, among others.
In any case, he stressed that it is essential to promote collective transport with the necessary policies and ensure that subsidized school transport is free in the Canary Islands.
For the decarbonization of transport, collaboration between the public and private sectors must also be favored, Espino added in his speech.
