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The e-mobility project launched by the Jamaica Public Service Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank’s innovation unit, IDB Lab, to accelerate the development of electric vehicle technology in Jamaica, has established an electric mobility fund that entrepreneurs can tap for concessionary financing, particularly women in the micro and small business sector.
Details about the fund and the banking partners with which the JPS and IDB Lab will partner on disbursements were not forthcoming up to press time. It will provide financing for innovative green projects across sectors such as transportation, agriculture and tourism.
The establishment of the e-mobility fund is the second of three components of the jointly funded e-mobility ecosystem project, the first being a public awareness and market- sensitisation campaign around the development of a sustainable electric-mobility market, and the third, technical capacity building and training.
So far, the three-year project, initiated through the JPS Foundation, has deployed 10 electric vehicle or EV charging stations in partnership with gas stations nationwide.
The light and power company is trying to shape charging behaviour with the announcement of ‘time of use’ rates, which will apply to individuals and commercial owners of the 50,000 electric vehicles projected to be in use in Jamaica by 2030.