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In Venezuela, solar-powered cars offer route around fuel lines

Two Venezuelan innovators are advocating for solar-powered vehicles in the face of power outages and long lines at gas stations. Fuel shortages are a result of decreased production in Venezuela鈥檚 state-owned oil industry following years of poor maintenance. 

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In Maracaibo, the once wealthy Venezuelan oil city, two innovators are trying to push a new trend: small electric and solar-powered cars that offer an alternative for people fed up with regular fuel shortages and long lines at the gas station.

Venezuela鈥檚 oil production and exports have ebbed and flowed this year as frequent power and gas disruptions have affected state-run oil firm PDVSA鈥檚 facilities. U.S. sanctions also continue limiting the markets that can receive Venezuelan oil.

Jos茅 Cintron, an electrical technician, has developed a solar-powered car, while Augusto Pradelli has created a micro electric vehicle (EV) that can also use solar panels. Both cars are built on the frame of old golf carts with more powerful batteries.

鈥淭hese electric motors don鈥檛 make noise, they don鈥檛 vibrate, they don鈥檛 pollute, they are the future,鈥� said Mr. Pradelli from his workshop in Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia state, in the far northwest of Venezuela.

鈥淭he world has to think about how to get out of pollution and global warming.鈥�

The small vehicles can carry four people and travel between 25 and 40 kilometers per hour. The batteries can be recharged with the solar panels in 10 hours or faster through an electric charging point, Mr. Pradelli said.

鈥淭he beauty of solar charge is that as long as there is sun the car is always charging,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he sun is free and that鈥檚 what you have to take advantage of.鈥�

The two men, who self-funded their innovations, are hoping to work together to develop a hybrid electric car and eventually attain national production, a big dream in a country that was once one of the world鈥檚 top oil producers.

鈥淪olar energy is the future, we have to stop relying on fossil fuels,鈥� Mr. Cintron said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not overnight and oil is not going to go away that easily.鈥�

Both, however, said the environmental benefits were only part of the lure for people in the city. More of an attraction was the way solar-powered cars could help with incessant power outages and fuel shortages.

Production has dropped in Venezuela鈥檚 state-owned oil industry after years of poor maintenance and a lack of investment. Long queues at gas stations are a regular occurrence.

Maracaibo, with 2 million inhabitants, is the second-largest city in Venezuela, with tropical temperatures of more than 93 degrees F. (34聽C)聽almost all year round. The heat makes walking uncomfortable 鈥� another selling point for cheap EVs.

The solar panels also provide a solution to regular power cuts that have hit the region.

At the end of June, production at Venezuela鈥檚 second largest oil refinery, the聽Paraguana Refining Center in the western state of Falcon, ceased after a breakdown and resumed on Aug. 22, beyond the 21 days originally scheduled. The Cardon refinery鈥檚 naphtha reformer, with a capacity of 45,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), produces high-octane components for gasoline and is key to the country鈥檚 gasoline supply.

However, shipments of fuel oil, methanol, and petroleum coke boosted Venezuela鈥檚 August oil exports to the second highest level this year, a recovery from weak volumes amid outages, according to documents and tanker tracking data.

A total of 32 cargoes departed last month from Venezuelan ports carrying 760,710 bpd of crude and refined products, and some 256,000 tonnes of byproducts, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and PDVSA鈥檚 exports schedules.

The August numbers imply an increase of almost 37% from July, and 22% above volumes of the same month of 2021 with most exports bound for China and trans-shipment hubs like Malaysia.

Fuel oil exports reached 320,000 bpd, the highest level this year, while shipments of methanol, sulfur, and petroleum coke rose slightly from the 252,000 tonnes of July, fueled by buoyant demand in Europe, India, and the United States.

In the face of increasing oil exports in August, at a science and聽technology event in August, Mr. Pradelli said Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro had even indicated support for his electric vehicle at the event, when his vehicle had been on display.

鈥淭he president told me: 鈥楢ugusto, I鈥檒l buy it from you,鈥欌�� said Mr. Pradelli, adding he told the president that he would then need the means to produce it.

鈥溾�業t would be necessary to manufacture them, Mr. President, and for that an industry, an assembler, is needed,鈥欌�� he recalled.

This story was reported by Reuters. Additional reporting by聽Deisy Buitrago in Caracas.