Insufficient chargers for electric vehicles in Costa Rica

The following is a machine translation of an Aresep release

Bol. 85-2024. The Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) conducted a study on the infrastructure of electric vehicle charging centers and found that they are insufficient and thousands of breakdowns are reported.

There are currently 17,154 electric cars and only 125 charging stations across the country, which shows insufficient infrastructure to guarantee the continuity of this service.

In 2023, 24 new units were installed and in 2024, only 3, for a total of 125 charging centers operating throughout the country (fast and semi-fast):

Company	Semi-rapid (L2)	Rapids (L3)	Total
ICE	26	38	64
CNFL	1	10	11
ESPH	20	2	22
JASEC	4	1	5
COOPELESCA	1	4	5
COOPESANTOS	9	0	9
COOPEGUANACASTE	3	4	7
COOPEALFARORUIZ	1	1	2
TOTAL	65	60	125

In the analysis, ARESEP detected that between January 2023 and April 2024, 4,959 breakdowns were recorded. The main cause (4,641) is software problems, because the equipment has European parameters that are not compatible with Chinese brand vehicles, which predominate in the market. There is also misuse by users.

These are the faults that ICE chargers present:

Breakdowns reported by ESPH :

In 2018, the Law on Incentives and Promotion for Electric Transport was approved and is part of the national decarbonisation plan.

The eight electric companies are responsible for installing the equipment for connecting electric vehicles and providing the necessary maintenance. They can resort to other forms of business with strategic allies (shopping centers, hotels, office centers, marinas, municipalities, etc.) and charge the rates authorized by ARESEP.

Executive Decree 41642- Minae determines that there must be rapid refill dispensers throughout the country. However, these are mostly concentrated in the center of the country: