Electric Vehicles and EV Charging

Overview

A working guide for anyone committing capital to electric vehicles or charging infrastructure in the Caribbean. Fifteen thematic parts carry the cross-market numbers; eight country files run to a fixed ten-section template so markets can be read across.

The organising problem is that the concession is the business case and the expiry date is the risk. Jamaica's duty concession runs to July 2027 behind a 1,000-vehicle cap; Trinidad removed duty, VAT and motor vehicle tax in 2021 and then reimposed them above TT$400,000 CIF from January 2026; the Dominican Republic's Ley 103-13 is the only open-ended incentive in the set. Sitting under all of it is the licence question — whether you may sell a kilowatt-hour at all decides which of six businesses you are actually in — and a power price that runs from US$0.056/kWh in Trinidad to US$0.618/kWh in Anguilla on the same industrial basis.

This edition is unusually explicit about what is not known. There is no published Caribbean EV market size, no market with a dedicated EV tariff, and no mandated connector standard anywhere in the region. Where a figure circulates but could not be traced to a publisher, it is named as untraced and not used. There are more of those statements here than in any previous Sherpa Guide, because the region's e-mobility data is genuinely thin — and knowing precisely which numbers do not exist is worth more to a person committing capital than a confident estimate.

What this guide covers

Fifteen thematic parts across the full investment sequence — the map, choosing your game, the vehicle and the freight leg, the fiscal regime, the power, the licence question, building the charger, the capital stack, offtake, public transport and public fleets, batteries and end of life, resilience, pitfalls, exit and the underwriting framework — followed by eight country files on a fixed ten-section template covering Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Barbados, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, and the OECS and small islands.

Who this is for

Investors, developers, charge point operators, fleet owners and lenders committing capital to electric vehicles or charging infrastructure in Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Barbados, Puerto Rico or The Bahamas.

What you get

• Seven markets treated as seven regimes, not as a region
• What This Costs You — the money consequence of a fact, with arithmetic where arithmetic is possible
• Deal Evidence — real, public, dated transactions with named counterparties
• Ask Before You Commit — the question list to take into the room
• Eight country files on a fixed ten-section template, built to be read across
• The fiscal concession market by market, with its cap, age limit and expiry date
• The licence question instrument by instrument — whether you may sell a kilowatt-hour
• Verified tariff evidence on a like-for-like industrial basis, with the comparison stated
• Charging capex controls, enclosure ratings, wind loading and corrosion
• A gap register naming what the public record does not contain

Table of contents

1. How to read this guide: Parts 0 to 14 are thematic and cross-market. Read Part 3 and Part 4 first — everything else prices off them.
2. The region in fifteen facts: The numbers to hold in mind, including the ones that do not exist.
3. Part 0 — The Map: Seven markets, two connector standards, one shared power problem.
4. Part 1 — Choosing Your Game: Six businesses wear the same name. Only two of them are yours.
5. Part 2 — The Vehicle: Before the charger, the car. Before the car, the ship.
6. Part 3 — The Fiscal Regime: The concession is the business case. Read the expiry date first.
7. Part 4 — The Power: The fuel is cheaper. It is not cheap.
8. Part 5 — The Licence Question: Whether you may sell a kilowatt-hour decides what business you are in.
9. Part 6 — Building the Charger: Salt, wind, and a connector nobody has mandated.
10. Part 7 — The Capital Stack: Concessional money is doing the work the sovereign rating cannot.
11. Part 8 — Offtake: Somebody has to plug in. Find out who, before you pour concrete.
12. Part 9 — Public Transport and Public Fleets: A repeat public buyer with a published clearing price.
13. Part 10 — Batteries, Service and End of Life: You can import the battery. Whether there is any lawful way to send it to the nearest market that can process it turns on a classification question unanswered anywhere in this region.
14. Part 11 — Resilience: The grid comes back. The question is how long you were dark.
15. Part 12 — Pitfalls: Nine ways this goes wrong, all of them documented. And four the market has not hit yet.
16. Part 13 — Exit: Two comparables, no multiple, and a buyer universe you can name in a paragraph.
17. Part 14 — The Underwriting Framework: The model, the inputs you have, and the twelve you must go and buy.
18. The country files: Fixed ten-section template.
19. Country File A — Jamaica: The region's most developed charging network, and a concession that reaches past most of the market.
20. Country File B — Guyana: Zero tax on the car, ninety-three per cent heavy fuel oil in the socket.
21. Country File C — Trinidad and Tobago: The cheapest electricity in the region, and the cheapest petrol. The gap is the problem.
22. Country File D — Dominican Republic: The largest fleet in the region, and BEV imports have fallen every year since 2022.
23. Country File E — Barbados: Seventy-two per cent of new vehicles are electrified, and nobody can tell you how many chargers there are.
24. Country File F — Puerto Rico: A US market with no US tax credit, on a grid that got worse three years running.
25. Country File G — The Bahamas: A 50%-by-2035 target, and the dealers say it is not feasible.
26. Country File H — OECS and the small islands: The highest tariffs in the world, and almost no published data.
27. Gap register, method and source register: What the public record does not contain, and how this edition was built.

Research and sources

346 indexed sources. Ministries, regulators, utilities and legal instruments are cited to the primary text wherever this edition reached one; the base also includes substantial newspaper reporting, aggregators such as WorldStandards, GlobalPetrolPrices and CEIC, commercial databases, operator marketing material and, in two flagged cases, social-media posts. The character of each source is stated at the point of use, because in this region it changes what the figure is worth. Every figure is attributed to a named organisation with a publication date. Where a figure circulates but could not be traced to a publisher, this edition says so and does not use it; where a fact could not be established at all, it says that too and gives no substitute. Data current as of 27 August 2026. This edition is desk research: no interviews, quotations or written regulator enquiries were conducted, and neither the licence analysis in Part 5 nor the Basel classification analysis in Part 10 has been reviewed by counsel. Currency conversions and per-unit derivations are the authors' arithmetic and are labelled as such throughout.

Licensing

Single-user licence. For use by the named licensee only. Redistribution, resale, posting to shared drives or internal circulation beyond the named licensee is a breach of licence. Team licences covering up to five named users are available.