Photo: One of the vehicles designed by Augusto Pradelli, in Maracaibo, Zulia state. Augusto Pradelli.
A quiet electric vehicle revolution is underway in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo. Entrepreneurs have created affordable battery and solar-powered vehicles adapted from golf carts to overcome the country’s chronic fuel shortages and power outages. The car created by Augusto Pradelli, 61, which he used as a miniature food truck, has a recycled chassis, scavenged motor and parts taken from motorcycles. “There was no fuel, drastic power outages were leaving us without electricity for up to six hours a day, and there was a pandemic so we couldn’t go out. All of this together made us creative,” says José Citron, who partnered with Pradelli to fit solar panels to the vehicle. The carts now reach speeds of up to 40km an hour and travel 60-100km with up to four passengers on a six-hour charge, and the team is refining a hybrid model with a roof-mounted solar panel that extends the duration of the car’s charge cycle.
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