Ecuadorian company courier Grupo Entregas records significant progress in the energy transition process. Currently the company has seven electric vans and they hope to end up with twelve this 2024, three electric bikes cover 80% of document delivery. By 2026, its entire fleet will be electric.

The company has its own power stations in the main cities: Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca. And the plan is to build new ones in Manta and Ambat. While 90% of the main building’s energy is produced through solar panels.

In Ecuador, there are several companies that are committed to renewing their electric vehicle fleet, but in accordance with the Law on Energy Competition, an initiative of the government of Daniel Noboa and approved a few weeks ago by the National Assembly, starting from 2030 all vehicles are included in the service of urban and inter-county public transport, as well as commercial, in mainland Ecuador, must only have 100% electric drive and zero emissions. However, in 2019, it was already proposed in the Energy Efficiency Act that the deadline for this transition is 2025. In this sense, what the law has done is to extend the deadline for this transition.

María Paulina Romo, president of Grupo Entregas, tells what the company’s journey was like in this process. And that regardless of the laws or years that they establish. The CEO also explains that depending on the type of business, there is an economic benefit to having an electric fleet over a conventional internal combustion fleet.

Five years ago, they started where they should: with the creation of a study to determine the pollution and unproductive traffic generated within their fleet. The first knowledge is that the problem was concentrated in the movement of documents. Cities were mapped and, for example in Quito, they realized that 80% of their congestion and unproductiveness was in the financial sector.

The first idea was to change the transmission of light packages by motorcycle, but with an energy transition. Unfortunately, it did not work in Quito or Guayaquil. In the first case, due to the topography of the terrain and lack of power, while on the Coast, the problem was moisture and damage to the batteries, which also account for 90% of the motorcycle’s value.

Along the way, he met Carlos Tacuri (Construbicis), with whom they designed three bicycles (similar to those of ice cream makers) that run on electricity and human energy. This solution, managed by a top driver, helped increase productivity by 15%.

A logical and coherent step with an environmentally friendly model was to go towards an electric fleet.

Thus, the business model of Grupo Entregas is to work with its electric fleet through a five-year lease (long-term). He explains that in his company’s case, when it operated a fleet of internal combustion vehicles, the biggest expense was vehicle maintenance. Calculate that the monthly maintenance cost for gas cars could be an additional $400.

María Paulina Romo, president of Grupo Entregas. Photo: Alfredo Cárdenas.

Energy transition as an alternative to subsidies

For María Paulina Romo, the question of the energy transition also opens the door to a debate about what to do with subsidies. In this sense, he believes that the transition should serve so that so many funds are no longer spent on subsidies for fuels that pollute the environment. However, he assures that the company’s investment in the transition issue must be compensated by the state. This indicates that it is important to consider that it is not a change motivated only by deadline or Marketing, and therefore advises that the first step is to measure the carbon footprint being created.

He assures that there is an increase in electric units in Ecuador. According to data from the Association of Automobile Companies of Ecuador (Aeada), sales of electric vehicles have tripled in three years, but this level is still at the beginning. “Ecuador is still very far from that change, but we have to start somewhere.”

In 2021, there were 288 vehicles, 440 in 2022, and in 2023 there were already 770 units sold. The number of SUVs increased from 132 in 2021 to 217 in 2022 and 510 in 2023.

Romo comments that energy experts recognize Ecuador’s enormous potential for renewable energy due to its ability to receive light and its privileged position on the globe.

Although Grupo Entregas is a success story, experts believe that it will be difficult to meet the deadlines set by the new law if there is no plan and adequate financing for replacing the blocks.