Barbados<\/p>\n
Effective August 1, all state-owned enterprises in Barbados must transition to electric, hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles.<\/p>\n
Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn was speaking in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, July 19, when he detailed the \u201cfuel-cutting\u201d measures that will take place amid rising fuel costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs it relates to public procurement, Mr Speaker, entities falling under the government of Barbados will be required to update their internal vehicular and equipment policy to purchase battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles or alternate fuelled vehicles as it relates to passenger vehicles as priority purchases.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the new availability of electric heavy-duty vehicles and heavy-duty equipment, effective August 1, 2022, all central government agencies and departments as well as all state-owned enterprises will be required to commence greening their heavy-duty vehicular and equipment fleet with any available electric models within that range as part of their routine procurement,\u201d Minister Straughn announced.<\/p>\n
`\u201dMr Speaker, we would rather have spent that extra money on fuel building more renewable energy capacity and advancing the electrification of both the passenger and commercial fleet in the country. Therefore, it would be counter-intuitive to incentivize consumption of diesel or gasoline hybrid vehicles that still require significant usage of fossil fuel in the same way we did for battery electric vehicles,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
The Finance Minister disclosed that Government was in the process of regularising the tariff structure for hybrid vehicles.\u00a0He reported that from next month, the importation duties on plug-in hybrids will be reduced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am now in a position to announce that effective August 1, 2022, the import duty applicable to plug-in hybrids will be set at 25 per cent whilst the rate of import duty for a regular hybrid vehicle will be 35 per cent, both down from the current tariff of 45 per cent applicable to vehicles fuelled by gasoline and diesel. This makes the policy more consistent with the 2030 goal of being fossil fuel free,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Straughn also proposed the excise tax on plug-in electric hybrid vehicles over 2000cc be reduced from 120 per cent to 80 per cent from August 1.<\/p>\n