LA PAZ, Bolivia — When the state's fuel subsidy collapsed and gasoline prices doubled overnight, working Bolivians like Simón Huanca faced an impossible choice: spend hours in fuel lines and drain their paychecks at the pump, or find another way to get to work. The 53-year-old Indigenous artisan chose the latter, importing a Chinese electric car to transport his family and the alpaca wool for his weaving workshop through El Alto, Bolivia's highest city. He installed a charger in his own garage—not by preference, but by necessity, since only three public charging stations serve the vast metropolitan area of El Alto and neighboring La Paz, home to more than 1.6 million people. "Since last year, I've been trying to get an electric car to save on costs," Huanca said.
Huanca represents a small but rapidly growing number of Bolivians abandoning fossil fuel-powered vehicles as the South American country grapples with fuel shortages and the abrupt end of long-standing fuel subsidies that effectively doubled gasoline costs. The crisis has exposed how vulnerable ordinary citizens become when state infrastructure fails and market forces are left unchecked.
A Subsidy Collapse With Human Costs
Bolivia's energy supply disruptions worsened in 2023 under then President Luis Arce, who maintained a state subsidy under which the country purchased fuel at international prices and sold it at half its value on the domestic market. Bolivia imports 80% of the diesel and 55% of the gasoline it consumes, but gradually ran out of foreign currency to purchase fuel. The subsidy represented an annual drain of more than $2 billion on the state. Long lines of vehicles waiting at gas stations became a common sight, costing workers hours of productive time.
In December, one month after taking office, President Rodrigo Paz repealed the subsidy, and energy prices nearly doubled, hitting Bolivians hard. A few weeks later, transport operators complained that the poor quality of gasoline was damaging their vehicles. The government alleged sabotage, and Paz said that the gasoline distributed by state-owned oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos was contaminated with gum and manganese that had remained in the storage tanks since the Arce administration. The "junk gasoline" scandal triggered a wave of strikes and protests among transportation workers and the resignations of two high-ranking officials at the state-owned oil company.
Who Can Afford the Switch
Faced with the possibility of yet another rise in fuel prices following the Iran war, some Bolivians traded in their gasoline-powered cars for electric vehicles. Ever Vera, a 54-year-old lawyer, said, "The investment exceeds $36,000, but I no longer waste valuable working hours searching for fuel or managing vehicle repairs."
The number of electric vehicles in Bolivia climbed from 500 to 3,352 in the last five years, according to the Single Registry for Tax Administration, which compiles data on tax-paying vehicles. The most significant surge was recorded over the last two years, coinciding with the fuel crisis. They still only make up a tiny fraction of the estimated 2.6 million vehicles in the country of almost 12 million people. The vast majority of these vehicles were imported from China, followed by the United States.
Freddy Koch, an electromobility expert with the independent nonprofit organization Swisscontact, said, "The growth is exponential." He noted that while these vehicles are being purchased by more affluent buyers, he expects them to gain broader appeal and predicts that the total number of electric vehicles could triple in as little as two to three years. Paz also eliminated import tariffs on all types of automobiles, a move that has multiplied the number of importers competing with one another to bring these vehicles into Bolivia at a lower cost.
Infrastructure Lags Behind Demand
The rising number of electric vehicles has created new opportunities for 38-year-old electrician Marcelo Laura. A month ago, he identified a lucrative niche in the installation of residential and commercial charging stations. Laura said, "There aren't many public charging stations," and added, "A year ago, I thought it was practically impossible to think that people would actually be bringing in electric cars."
Yet the lack of public charging infrastructure means that only those who can afford to install private chargers—like Huanca and Vera—can realistically make the transition. For the vast majority of Bolivians who cannot afford a $36,000 investment, the fuel crisis continues to extract a daily toll in lost wages, vehicle damage, and uncertainty.
Why This Matters:
Bolivia's electric vehicle surge illustrates how infrastructure failures and abrupt policy shifts place the heaviest burden on working people. When a state subsidy that kept fuel affordable for years collapsed without a transition plan or public charging network, only the affluent could escape the crisis by purchasing expensive electric cars and private chargers. The "junk gasoline" scandal and resulting strikes underscore the human cost of inadequate regulatory oversight and poor maintenance of state infrastructure. While electric vehicle adoption may reduce emissions over time, the current trajectory risks creating a two-tier transportation system where access to reliable, affordable mobility depends on personal wealth rather than public investment in charging infrastructure and equitable energy policy.