Barbados Today

With Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Chris Sinckler scheduled to deliver his Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals on Monday, a Barbados-based British entrepreneur has expressed the hope that “the rates of customs duty on the vehicles would remain where they are, or get lowered”.

Speaking at Limegrove Eco-Expo in Holetown, St James, the Chief Executive Officer of Megapower, Simon Richards, noted that there were currently 110 electric vehicles on the island’s roads.

He also told Barbados TODAY that Barbadians seemed to be catching on to the Government’s drive to reduce the level of green house gas emissions in the country.

Richards said that over the past two years his company had been able to sell the Nissan LEAF electric cars to local customers, while over the past three months it had placed electric vans on
the market.

Stressing that Megapower was playing its part in protecting the environment, Richards said: “That is the primary drive of my company. We have built up enough renewable energy to offset all of the vehicles we sold in Barbados. We believe it is a perfect match.”

He also said his company had introduced a fuel card that could be used like a credit card at the 29 charging stations located across the country.

“You swipe the card to activate it. The bill can be paid at the end of the month. It takes about $8 to recharge the battery of the vehicle.

“It is a massive saving over the internal combustion engine,” Richards explained, while pointing out that one of the electric cars on display was valued at $90 000.

Commenting on the recent situation where several electric cars were once impounded by the Customs & Excise Department, Richards told prospective customers that following some clarifications the department was now releasing the vehicles.