The rumble of 1959 Chevrolets, once the rhythmic heartbeat of Havana, is fading to the near silence of electric vehicles as the island faces its worst fuel shortage in years.
For six decades, Cuba’s roads changed little, defined by colorful vintage cars. But in recent years, Cubans increasingly adopted electric vehicles as fuel became more scarce. Now, they are helping the population grapple with a worsening fuel crisis, since the U.S. cut off oil exports from the communist-run country’s ally Venezuela and threatened to penalize other countries exporting fuel to the island.
Donald Trump’s administration has declared Cuba “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security.
Island nations make the most sense to convert anyway. Import costs for consumable resources are already astronomical, why wouldn’t you switch to tech that can be completely self sufficient locally?
Netflix made a documentary about the European islands that prioritized switching away from oil: Islands of the Future.
I would say with China’s help, a renewable Cuba is entirely possible.
My only concern is the hazards introduced by hurricanes, which can be compensated for by implementing flush roof-mount solar PV systems (minimizes wind loads), underground electric power lines, subgrade geothermal loops with heat pumps, indoor substations and Battery Electric Storage System (BESS) facilities, and pumped storage hydropower utilizing Cuba’s mountain ranges. Wind is probably not a viable technology given that hurricanes can completely cover the island with crazy strong winds.
Edit: as another commenter pointed out, tidal power would be a good alternative too. The best technology I’ve seen to utilize tidal is made by Orbital Marine Power based out of Scotland, who basically slaps 2 turbines onto a submarine to collect power. Could have offshore substations that collect that power and send it back to shore.
I’ve always thought this too, but Japan, and specifically Okinawa (where I live) are so reliant on fossil fuels. I figured we’d have solar panels on every home, offshore wind, and maybe even lead the innovation for tidal energy but nope.
Japan is a huge island in size and population compared to Cuba. And of course they kept importing oil and gas from Russia…
I’m not seeing how that’s relevant. It’s bigger, yeah, but still an island nation with the same import cost issue that empireOfLove2 mentioned. Does being bigger and more populous somehow cancel that out?
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Which parts are self sufficient for Cuba? The electricity generation? They don’t have all the components to make lithium batteries.
I meant the fuel, yes. There’s always going to be imports with highly advanced machines.
There’s gotta be initial imports. Afterwards, they can be self-sufficient running these things and not be dependent on fuel imports, though.
Once they have enough lithium in the country, it could last them for decades, if they adopt a clever recycling strategy; not unlike they did with the 1950s cars.
Battery recycling chain will take 25 years to establish, when one generation of electric vehicles needs to be remade.