Huanca’s decision to buy an electric car is tied to a months-long scramble in Bolivia for fuel at prices that many drivers say they can no longer absorb. In El Alto, the country’s highest city and a working-class hub outside La Paz, the Associated Press reports that people have spent more time in long lines and more money managing the cost and reliability of gasoline-powered vehicles. Huanca, 53, said he imported a Chinese electric car to move his family and haul alpaca wool to his weaving workshop, and he installed a charger at home because there are only a few public charging stations for the broader metropolitan area. “Since last year, I’ve been trying to get an electric car to save on costs,” Huanca said while driving his off-road electric vehicle through his neighborhood.
The broader shift is still limited in scale, but it has gathered speed as fuel disruptions and pricing changes reshaped everyday transport. The AP reports that Huanca is among a small but growing number of Bolivians moving away from fossil-fuel vehicles amid fuel shortages and what it described as an effective doubling of gasoline costs following a presidential decree ending long-standing fuel subsidies. The outlet tied the growing interest to how difficult it has become to reliably buy fuel and how costly it has been when supplies are scarce.
Bolivia’s fuel problems intensified as foreign currency tightened, according to the AP’s account of the country’s energy situation. The AP reported that in 2023, disruptions worsened under then President Luis Arce, who maintained a state subsidy that let Bolivia purchase fuel at international prices and sell it domestically at about half that cost. The AP said Bolivia imports about 80% of its diesel and 55% of the gasoline it consumes, and that the subsidy represented more than $2 billion in annual spending. In that environment, the AP said long lines at gas stations became common, and the pressure continued into the new administration.
After Rodrigo Paz took office, the AP reported that he repealed the fuel subsidy in December, one month after taking office. The AP said energy prices nearly doubled after the change, and that the blow fell hard on households and drivers. A few weeks later, the AP reported that transport operators complained that the gasoline they were receiving was damaging their vehicles. The government alleged sabotage and said the gasoline distributed by the state-owned oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos was contaminated with gum and manganese that had remained in storage tanks since the Arce administration. The AP said the “junk gasoline” scandal contributed to strikes and protests by transportation workers and led to the resignations of two high-ranking officials at the state oil company.
The AP also said the decision by some residents to switch came amid uncertainty over further fuel-cost increases, including fears linked to the Iran war. It reported that “the last straw for many Bolivians” was the possibility of another rise in prices, leading some drivers to trade gasoline-powered cars for electric vehicles. Ever Vera, a 54-year-old lawyer, told the AP that even with a reported investment of more than $36,000, he no longer wanted to spend working hours searching for fuel or dealing with vehicle repairs. “The investment exceeds $36,000, but I no longer waste valuable working hours searching for fuel or managing vehicle repairs,” Vera said.
Even so, electric vehicles remain a small portion of Bolivia’s overall vehicle fleet. The AP reported that the number of electric vehicles climbed from 500 to 3,352 in the last five years, citing the Single Registry for Tax Administration, which tracks tax-paying vehicles. The AP said the most significant surge occurred over the last two years and coincided with the fuel crisis, while noting that electric cars still represent a tiny fraction of an estimated 2.6 million vehicles across Bolivia, which has a population of almost 12 million.
The AP said most electric vehicles in Bolivia have been imported from China, followed by the United States. It also quoted Freddy Koch, an electromobility expert with the independent nonprofit organization Swisscontact, who described the growth as accelerating. “The growth is exponential,” Koch said, adding that while these vehicles are being bought by more affluent buyers, he expects wider adoption and predicted the total number of electric vehicles could triple in two to three years. The outlet also reported that Paz eliminated import tariffs on all types of automobiles, a step that, in turn, increased competition among importers and expanded access to vehicles at lower cost.
As more cars arrive, the AP reported that the change is also creating jobs and new services tied to charging infrastructure. Marcelo Laura, a 38-year-old electrician, told the AP that he identified a niche installing residential and commercial charging stations, saying that there were not many public charging stations and that a year earlier he thought it was “practically impossible” that people would be bringing in electric cars. His account reflected a wider shift from vehicles as an individual purchase toward vehicles supported by charging networks—an issue that has been a constraint for much of the city’s early adoption.