Electric motorcycles flood Havana amid diesel shortages

HAVANA (AP) — Young people come and go on their electric motorcycles on a highway outside Cuba's capital where they perform stunts and talk about their two-wheelers, which would be largely silent if it weren't for the music blasting from speakers.

Cuba has been flooded in recent years with “motorinas,” as the electric scooters are called on the island, which have been promoted by the government as efficient alternatives amid extreme gas and diesel shortages, and as a solution to the country's transportation problems.

Authorities permitted their importation last decade – Cubans cannot import motorcycles with gasoline or diesel engines – and since then about 300,000 of them have circulated on the island, said Colonel Mario Ríos Labrada, head of vehicle registry at the National Transit Directorate.

In comparison, there are an estimated 500,000 cars.

The motorcycles can cost between $2,000 and $5,000.

Many originate in China and are imported to Cuba through Panama. Cuban officials say a locally made electric motorcycle called the “Minerva” is being produced at an old bicycle manufacturing warehouse in Villa Clara.

“There is an 'outbreak' of electric motorcycles, everyone likes them,” said Ernesto José Salazar, 20, who works in a paint shop.

“We got to meet up with 200 motorcycles, honking and listening to music.”

Cuban drivers face shortages of fuel, especially diesel, which is also used to power the electricity generators that feed the nation's power grid, which collapsed this summer.

Oil shortages have been caused by difficulties in Venezuela – an ally and supplier of the island – and US sanctions.

Electric scooter drivers recharge the batteries through normal power sockets and are out of luck when the supply goes down.

Authorities in Cuba promote electric motorcycles as energy efficient and as an alternative to a public transportation system that is plagued by shortages of parts to repair broken down buses and a lack of fuel.

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