Paraguay EV Gross sales Report: EVs Attain 2.4% Market Share in 2024

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If there’s one mysterious nation in South America, it’s Paraguay.

Its historical past is out of the realm of actuality. The primary nation to successfully stabilize in South America after Independence, turning into a “Perpetual Dictatorship” from 1816 beneath the paternalistic, isolationist, and all-together eccentric Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Karai Guasu (“Nice Lord” in Guarani), Paraguay was successfully an island till 1840. These previous days are remembered in folklore, even right here in Colombia, the place I discovered as a toddler of the occasions when a strong native trade was efficiently developed by a landlocked nation, solely to be later destroyed by pressure*.

It occurred throughout a complete warfare, the bloodiest in that century in South America, when Paraguay confronted alone the “Triple Alliance” of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Paraguayan males fought fairly actually till the final man … or virtually, as estimates point out as a lot as 90% of the male inhabitants died between 1864 and 1870. So dire was the scenario that the Radical Liberals of the then United States of Colombia declared that, ought to Paraguayans lose their nation, they’d be welcomed and mechanically given Colombian nationality, as no man (or lady) ought to must reside with out a nation to name its personal.

But Paraguay would survive and retain its militaristic nature, turning into a hub for Mennonites and different spiritual minorities as one of many few nations on this interval with out conscription: having a gun and figuring out find out how to use it was seen as an honor, not an obligation. This may serve them in the course of the bloodiest warfare in South America within the 20^th century (sure, they have been additionally concerned in that one), the place they defeated a a lot bigger and higher armed Bolivia in the course of the “Conflict of Chaco.”

Oh, and did I point out that they’re the one nation on the continent the place many of the inhabitants nonetheless speaks its native language (guaraní)? And that almost all of its capital just isn’t even obtainable in Google Avenue View? Speak about mysterious! It comes as no shock that almost all of us on the continent know little or no about Paraguay.

Which is why I used to be so excited after I managed to get my palms on official information displaying that even on this enigmatic land, we see the transition to EVs taking place in full swing!

Market Overview

I hope our readers might pardon my rant. I’m a historian, in any case, and Paraguay’s historical past is really fascinating. Hopefully, in the future I’ll know extra about it.

However our topic right here is EVs. As per the obtainable data, Paraguay has been steadily advancing in the direction of electrification, with EVs accounting for two.4% gross sales in 2024, in contrast with 1.4% in 2023:

Gross sales greater than doubled to over 800 models in 2024, most of them being BEVs. The quantity could seem small, however Paraguay’s market can also be very small, barely surpassing 35,000 models that very same 12 months:

Now, this information is for imports, not registrations, however so far as I might discover, there is no such thing as a native meeting within the nation … apart from some JAC fashions which have been being assembled in 2017. I presume these usually are not being produced anymore, but when any Paraguayan can enlighten me, I’d respect it. If there’s a considerable variety of autos produced within the nation, market share might be decrease, however I’m virtually sure that’s not the case.

In contrast to different small nations, Paraguay appears to have a really aggressive EV panorama. Knowledge on market share is offered individually for BEVs and PHEVs: Volvo leads BEV gross sales, accounting for 30% of them, adopted by BYD with 16%. Different necessary manufacturers are Audi, BMW, and Leapmotor:

PHEV gross sales are in the meantime dominated by BYD, adopted by BMW and Volvo:

It’s price mentioning that, like Uruguay and Ecuador, Paraguay has fallen for Nissan’s handy nomenclature: the Nissan X-Path E-Energy (a non-plug-in EREV) is offered as a BEV. The information was revised earlier than publishing and the 80-something X-Trails offered have been subtracted from it.

Closing Ideas

Paraguay is thought by its eccentric historical past, its Yerba Mate (a caffeinated scorching beverage extensively consumed there and in Argentina), its indigenous language … and it’s additionally recognized for being unknown (pardon the pun), a land kind of remoted unto itself.

However Paraguay just isn’t recognized for being a hyper-environmentalist nation of kinds (as, arguably, are Uruguay and Costa Rica), keen to go one step forward in innovation in an effort to curb fossil gas utilization. It’s additionally not as rich as both of those nations, but nonetheless it strikes forward in a transition that we have been as soon as instructed was solely going to occur within the wealthiest or essentially the most progressive of nations. Might this function a reminder that middle-income and poor nations have their very own incentives to impress, and typically these incentives are stronger in much less rich nations. Spoiler alert: extra articles are approaching these issues.

Again on matter, most necessary is the truth that Paraguay has huge quantities of obtainable renewable electrical energy because of the huge Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam, which just lately turned the hydroelectric dam with the most important historic manufacturing. Co-owned by Brazil and Paraguay, lots of the Paraguayan manufacturing just isn’t wanted, so it’s exported proper again into Brazil, making Paraguay one of many few nations the place “electrical energy” accounts for a big a part of exports (12.5%). Because of this, ought to EVs be adopted en masse, Paraguay could have the electrical energy available, and it’ll save more cash on gas imports than it loses on electrical energy exports.

Finally, in February, 20 electrical buses arrived in Paraguay from the Taiwanese producer Grasp Bus, with 10 extra on the best way. As with different nations, Paraguay can also be noticing the advantages of electrical public transportation, and that is anticipated to work as a pilot that may carry extra e-buses in a while.

2.4% might not look like a lot, nevertheless it was solely three years in the past that we have been celebrating Colombia getting over 2% market share, and fewer than two years in the past that Brazil bought there. Paraguay is racing forward of many different economies within the area (together with Mexico, Peru, and even Chile), and it looks like it might be one of many nations to give attention to within the coming years.

*The financial historical past of Paraguay is much extra advanced than this, however for the aim of thriller, we’ll depart it at that. Additionally, as a result of this was purported to be an article about EVs.