IMAGINE A BARBADOS where electric vehicles for individuals are the norm.
This is the idea Carlton Cummins, 23, has for the small island. The university graduate told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that people all around the world were particularly excited about the idea of green living.
Citing electricity and gas bills as two of the largest household expenditures, Cummins said it was critical that people began to think seriously about using renewable energy and consider owning electric instead of gas-powered vehicles.
Cummins argued that should those vehicles be utilized in Barbados, the Government’s escalating fuel import bill would be reduced significantly.
“I see the electric car as part of the transportation solution for the country from the perspective of self-sufficiency. A home owner with a solar electric system and an electric car could produce all the energy needed for his or her home as well as transportation,” he pointed out.
“This reality would not only reduce expenditure on fossil fuel, it would also improve the air quality and other environmental aspects which could reduce the cases of respiratory diseases along with other medical ailments,” said Cummins.
He added that public transportation could still operate on gas and be seen “as an option” rather than a “burden”. The only thing owners of electric vehicles would have to be concerned about is maintenance, said Cummins, and existing mechanics would only need to enhance their skills to deal with the new technology.
For his final-year project in the mechanical engineer Bachelor’s programme at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine campus, Cummins wrote a research paper on the feasibility of electric vehicles for the Caribbean suburban commuter. That was where the idea came from.
With that research and the help of his tutors, he was able to build an electric drive and an electric-powered motorcycle.
The project is ongoing at the Trinidad-based university campus and improvements are being made.
Coming out of the research that was conducted in four different Caribbean islands, two major concerns for people were high fuel consumption and cost. Other concerns included emissions and gas-powered vehicles’ performance.
Over 52 per cent of the people surveyed said they would consider driving an electric vehicle and 32 per cent said they would not. The remaining percentage was undecided.
It takes between four and eight hours to fully charge electric vehicles today.
Highlighting the pros of owning an electric car, the former St Michael School student said, “The first thing is that the range of electric vehicles today is actually ideal for small islands like Barbados.”
He said the research also showed that “the average Barbadian travelled approximately 40 miles a day and another interesting thing is that most people’s vehicles were out of use between eight and 12 hours. Electric vehicles today have a range of 100 miles or more [before requiring a recharge].”
Cummins further noted that with the growing interest in alternate energy, owning an electric vehicle would be an addition to the island’s green economy initiative.
Charging the car would not result in higher electricity bills. Cummins explained that renewable energy would be the vehicles’ unending source of power, and charging stations could be set up at various points across the island.
“If you are looking ahead at developing the Barbados for tomorrow, for the children, sustainability must be thought of as a necessity and not just as a luxury, because that is how people treat it right now. But if you really want to develop something for the future, then sustainability needs to be at the forefront,” he said.
Cummins, who completed his sixth-form studies at Harrison College, is an operations coordinator at Innogen Technologies – a provider of alternate energy solutions.
He said he would recommend electric vehicles only to individuals at the moment since “they know basically how their day is going to go and when they can get to recharge”.
“Your routine is fairly predictable but for businesses there are varying miles on any given day. So with businesses they would need more [of] a fleet solution,” he said.
Cummins is yet to formally pitch his idea to Government and car dealers across the island.
“The new electric cars are extremely feasible,” he reiterated.
