Electric Buses Deliver as Belize Reviews Pilot Success

Three years after launching an ambitious push into electric public transport, Belize is now getting its first real report card, and the results are turning heads. At a session in Belmopan today, officials rolled out new data on the performance of the EU-backed e-mobility pilot project, developed in partnership with the Government of Belize and the UNDP. And by most accounts, the electric buses are delivering. But what’s working, and what still needs fine-tuning? We were there as the findings came to light, offering a closer look at how this green investment is shaping the future of transportation in Belize.

 

Aniceto Ruiz, Head of Cooperation, European Union

“This is approaching the end of a pilot project that the European Union funded for the last three years, implemented by the UNDP. The bulk of the project consisted in testing five electric buses, two of them doing urban runs inside Belize and three other performing intercity runs, Belize City, Belmopan, Benque Viejo and one of them going to Dangriga, to test how electric mobility can work in this country.”

 

Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport

“It is very positive results gathered form this pilto about the two intracity buses in Belize and the three on the highway from Benque to Belize City and should be expanded to Corozal. The main finding is not surprising, the electric buses, their operating cost for energy is only about twenty percent of a diesel bus. That is in line with international data we have gathered and certainly it points to where the future lies.”

 

Michael Lund, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP

“So we have introduced five buses, looked at the legislation, we have helped with training and strategies, we have done a host of things to make it run. But the important part following that is, is it feasible. We look at around four parameters. Is it economically viable? Yes, it is sixty to seventy percent to operate an E Bus. Now it is more expensive to buy an E bus. But you can make that money back quite easily. We have shown that through the data from running the buses and seeing the actual operational cost. Is it socially desirable, yes.”

 

UNDP’s Deputy Resident Representative Michael Lund says the data shows that e-buses are also technically feasible and environmentally sustainable in Belize.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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