From today's elCaribe
Women "taxi" in electric cars
Eliana Ledesma
February 16, 2021
Ania Veloz, aboard her electric car to taxi.As a way to face economic and family commitments, make their lives a little more practical, and contribute to the preservation of the environment, several Dominican women threw themselves into “taxi”, but this time from electric cars.
Although many were already dedicated to offering taxi services from conventional cars, switching to the new electric model makes them part of the transformation that the country is experiencing in terms of the issue.
Ania Altagracia Veloz is 60 years old, has two grown children, and has been divorced for 11 years. He commented that he has been a taxi driver for the National Central of Unified Transporters (CNTU) for five years.
He explained that he dedicates to that job part-time due to the situation of the pandemic in the country, as well as to community work.
The car acquired by Veloz was a BAIC, model EC180, completely electric.
"It's excellent. You don't have to be busy with spark plugs, oils, gasoline (…) any fuel, ”said Veloz.
William Figuereo, president of CNTU, explained that seven female taxi drivers are part of this project of taxi services through electric cars.
While another 60 electric vehicles correspond to drivers.
The president of the CNTU said that he hopes that the driver sector will be empowered and be part of the transformation process that electric mobility implies and its benefits to the environment by reducing pollution.
Drivers "must be trained"
The transport entrepreneur commented that prior to the drivers changing to this new modality that implies a transmutation in the passenger transport system, they must be formed at the level of interpersonal relationships and customer service.
He spoke about the driver training school that CNTU has, in which they motivate the driver to respect both the signals and traffic actors in the country.
"It is necessary for drivers to be trained regardless of the union they belong to, so that there is a change in the system," emphasized Figuereo.
Car details
Alberto Cho, sales manager of Grupo Pive, the company in charge of importing BAIC model EC180 electric cars, reported that the aforementioned vehicle has approximately 50% fewer parts than a conventional car, which translates into not having spark plugs, transmission, fluids, filters, oils and other rotating parts that affect their wear.
"Another benefit is the cost of its energy: unlike the fluctuating price of gasoline, the price of electricity has been maintained for more than 15 years and projects to decrease due to the improvement of the country's electrical system," Cho told elCaribe .
(I'm even thinking about buying one of these to see how good they are).
