With two electric vehicle factories installed in Puebla, Zacua and Link, the local government continues to aim for the state to become Mexico’s «electromobility business centre».
To achieve this, the Energy Agency and the Ministry of Economy began working together on a Hub, which will attract and concentrate manufacturing companies in the sector in one place.
These will include producers of electric vehicles, electric motorbikes and bicycles, chargers, batteries, photovoltaic panels and supply chains.
«We will campaign hard to attract investment to Ciudad Modelo. We will give benefits to those who present electromobility projects,» says Ermilo Barrera, director of the Puebla Energy Agency, in an interview with Portal Movilidad.
He adds: «We will generate the necessary conditions to foster a general ecosystem. We will have a Centre for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Business, which will have all the materials to research and develop small-scale projects of this type.
In this sense, Barrera lists three key points to carry out this plan.
Firstly, there will be real estate facilities for companies investing in Ciudad Modelo.
In this regard, he clarifies: «There are lands that have very good conditions with access to gas and electricity. We are going to offer more favourable conditions to those investors who want to establish themselves and bet on the purchase or lease of these properties».
In addition, the authorities are working with a neighbouring industrial park in the proximity of Ciudad Modelo to offer preferential rates to the investments that will settle there.
At the moment, they are already in talks with two brands of electric chargers, one of photovoltaic panels, one of electric vehicles and one of electric motorbikes and bicycles, as well as various suppliers in the sector.
«The first to arrive will have the best conditions because they will be the pioneers of the electromobility Hub, living side by side with the ecosystem,» says Barrera.
Finally, a call for proposals called Innovaton will be launched this year, focused on attracting projects from Puebla’s electric mobility sectors, especially from universities.
All these educational institutions will be able to apply for their projects. Those that demonstrate the best conditions will be rewarded with prizes in kind so that they can be materialised.
«They will have courses, training and support from experts so that the business model can bear fruit. We will focus on projects that are just at the design, evaluation, research and development stage. We want to give strength to the beginning of the chain,» says Barrera.
The Hub’s entire policy will be designed by both organisations during the first months of the year, with the aim of making it public in March. It will then be clear what the government’s specific contributions will be and what the action plan will be.
From then on, they will carry out a campaign of promotion, prospecting and investment attraction. The intention is to close the year with at least two projects with signed investment intentions.