Latin America’s electric bus transition is irreversible

(China Dialogue, 11 Dec 2020) New commitments from manufacturers and investors secured by the ZEBRA partnership demonstrate the need – and will – to procure zero emissions fleets.

Wandering the streets of Chilean capital Santiago, you will notice a swift transition to zero emission transportation is underway. In less than two years, 776 battery-electric buses have arrived. But this is just the start. Nearly 2000 e-buses are already running on Latin American streets today. 

Despite such rapid growth, these represent less than 1% of all buses on Latin American roads. Larger purchases are limited by access to new zero emission bus models and to financing the higher upfront cost. 

To bridge this gap, the ZEBRA partnership – a collaboration between C40 Cities and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) – has secured new commitments from over 15  investors and manufacturers to join their efforts to accelerate the deployment of zero emission buses in Latin American cities. The alliance is working to secure up to US$1 billion that would see 3,000 new electric buses deployed on the region’s streets. 

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China Dialogue, 11 Dec 2020: Latin America’s electric bus transition is irreversible