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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, changing into a “Perpetual Dictatorship” from 1816 beneath the paternalistic, isolationist, and all-together eccentric Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Karai Guasu (“Great Lord” in Guarani), Paraguay was successfully an island till 1840. These outdated days are remembered in folklore, even right here in Colombia, the place I realized as a baby of the instances when a robust native trade was efficiently developed by a landlocked nation, solely to be later destroyed by drive*.
It occurred throughout a complete battle, 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 state of affairs that the Radical Liberals of the then United States of Colombia declared that, ought to Paraguayans lose their nation, they might be welcomed and routinely given Colombian nationality, as no man (or girl) ought to should dwell with out a nation to name its personal.
But Paraguay would survive and retain its militaristic nature, changing into a hub for Mennonites and different spiritual minorities as one of many few international locations on this interval with out conscription: having a gun and understanding the right way to use it was seen as an honor, not an obligation. This could serve them in the course of the bloodiest battle in South America within the twentieth century (sure, they had been additionally concerned in that one), the place they defeated a a lot bigger and higher armed Bolivia in the course of the “War of Chaco.”
Oh, and did I point out that they’re the one nation on the continent the place a lot of the inhabitants nonetheless speaks its native language (guaraní)? And that almost all of its capital just isn’t even obtainable in Google Road 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 once I managed to get my arms on official knowledge exhibiting that even on this enigmatic land, we see the transition to EVs occurring 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 actually fascinating. Hopefully, someday I’ll know extra about it.
However our topic right here is EVs. As per the obtainable data, Paraguay has been steadily advancing in 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 appear small, however Paraguay’s market can be very small, barely surpassing 35,000 models that very same yr:
Now, this knowledge is for imports, not registrations, however so far as I may discover, there isn’t a native meeting within the nation … apart from some JAC fashions which had been being assembled in 2017. I presume these will not be 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 international locations, 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 had been subtracted from it.
Remaining Ideas
Paraguay is thought by its eccentric historical past, its Yerba Mate (a caffeinated scorching beverage broadly consumed there and in Argentina), its indigenous language … and it’s additionally identified for being unknown (pardon the pun), a land form of remoted unto itself.
However Paraguay just isn’t identified for being a hyper-environmentalist nation of kinds (as, arguably, are Uruguay and Costa Rica), prepared to go one step forward in innovation as a way to curb fossil gas utilization. It’s additionally not as rich as both of those international locations, but nonetheless it strikes forward in a transition that we had been as soon as advised 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 international locations have their very own incentives to impress, and generally these incentives are stronger in much less rich nations. Spoiler alert: extra articles are approaching these issues.
Again on subject, most necessary is the truth that Paraguay has large quantities of accessible renewable electrical energy because of the huge Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam, which just lately grew to become the hydroelectric dam with the biggest historic manufacturing. Co-owned by Brazil and Paraguay, loads of the Paraguayan manufacturing just isn’t wanted, so it’s exported proper again into Brazil, making Paraguay one of many few international locations the place “electricity” accounts for a major a part of exports (12.5%). Because of this, ought to EVs be adopted en masse, Paraguay can 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 international locations, Paraguay can be noticing the advantages of electrical public transportation, and that is anticipated to work as a pilot that may carry extra e-buses afterward.
2.4% might not appear to be a lot, nevertheless it was solely three years in the past that we had been celebrating Colombia getting over 2% market share, and fewer than two years in the past that Brazil acquired there. Paraguay is racing forward of many different economies within the area (together with Mexico, Peru, and even Chile), and it looks as if it might be one of many international locations to deal with within the coming years.
*The financial historical past of Paraguay is much extra complicated than this, however for the aim of thriller, we’ll go away it at that. Additionally, as a result of this was speculated to be an article about EVs.
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Author : tech365
Publish date : 2025-03-31 21:52:00
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