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Why Tupinambá Energia is betting on electric mobility in Brazil

Bnamericas
Why Tupinambá Energia is betting on electric mobility in Brazil

Brazil's Raízen Power has signed an agreement with Tupinambá Energia to take control of the startup's entire electric vehicle charging network. 

The agreement includes over 200 alternating current chargers and can possibly be expanded to more than 600 additional points ranging from 7.4kW to 22kW. 

Tupinambá's CEO, Davi Bertoncello, speaks to BNamericas about the outlook for electric mobility in Brazil.

BNamericas: What is Tupinambá’s business model?

Bertoncello: Tupinambá is the leading vehicle recharging app in Brazil in terms of number of users and recharges. We have 3,000 recharging points out of the 4,000 points cataloged by [electric vehicle association] ABVE in Brazil, and we directly manage just over 500 of these points. 

Today, when an electric car user needs to recharge publicly or in shared condominiums, for example, they need a management app, which helps them identify where the points are, carry out the recharging and calculate the prices. So, in practice, we do the recharging and billing.

In 2019, we launched the first electric mobility app in Brazil, both on Android and iOS. In addition to the technological application, we also did the installation, commissioning and management of the chargers. 

As the mobility market in the country evolved, with major stakeholders in the energy sector driving the business forward, we realized that there was no need to cover the entire ecosystem, leaving us with just the management of the charging networks. So we sold 206 installed charging points and almost 700 points contracted to [Cosan-Shell JV] Raízen. Shell stated that it wants 1,000 recharging points under the Shell Recharge program.

BNamericas: Brazil has great biofuels potential. Will there be room for electric vehicles?

Bertoncello: Biofuels are a strength. The importance of ethanol in our daily lives is undeniable, but I believe there will be a combination of technologies, not a single solution.

BNamericas: Is the high price of electric cars a barrier?

Bertoncello: Any car in Brazil today has higher tax than in other countries. But we have electric cars in the 150,000-real (US$30,000) range, while the average price of cars with a combustion engine is 130,000 reais. And BYD [which has announced investments in Brazil] is planning an electric car in the 100,000-real range. 

In the premium range, in terms of cars with a higher standard, electric analogs are even cheaper than combustion ones. 

Estimates are that 2027 will be the year when the electric platform becomes cheaper than the combustion model. Electric cars have 90% fewer parts. They're still more expensive purely as a matter of scale.

BNamericas: What are the prospects for electric mobility in public transport in Brazil?

Bertoncello: They're promising. It's even more important to think about mass electrification. And Brazil's capacity to do this is very high. We don't yet produce 100% electric passenger cars, but we produce electric buses domestically.

BNamericas: What is needed to boost sales?

Bertoncello: The federal government and states need to mobilize. There are specific regional policies that are confusing and they sometimes hinder newer technologies. 

There are more formats that encourage the industry as it is. In São Paulo, for example, until recently, the IPVA [road vehicle tax] was calculated according to the size and weight of the car. Then they began to understand that the best metric was efficiency and sustainability and they produced a new format favoring electric cars. 

But there’s still a lack of clarity. The point is not even about receiving more incentives than other technological platforms, but having fair competition.

BNamericas: Does Brazil have enough electric vehicle charging points?

Bertoncello: This is still a bottleneck. In 2019, we had just over 300 public and semi-public points in Brazil. By the end of 2023, there were around 4,300 points. But there’s still a deficit. For the number of electric cars we have, we need something like 7,000 points. 

São Paulo's network is already in line with that of the most advanced countries, but there are significant deficits in the north and northeast. São Paulo alone currently has around 50% of Brazil's chargers, but electric vehicle registrations in São Paulo don't match that proportion, so we need to think regionally.

BNamericas: Does Tupinambá plan to expand its operations abroad?

Bertoncello: We’re already operating in Argentina and Paraguay and want to enter Mexico and Colombia, following the same business model we have in Brazil now.

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