Residents encouraged to buy electric vehicles

by Krystal Paco

Guam - Investing in an electric vehicle wouldn't just save you trips to the pump, but one senator hopes to put some extra cash in your wallet. Introduced by Senator Chris Duenas, Bill 203 would provide Guam residents a $7,500 rebate through the Guam Energy Office for purchasing a plug-in vehicle.

"As our research bears out, even with Guam's power rates, when plugging in an electric car its right around $200 a month for the average commute time and the charge required which gives about $250 of income buying power compared to if you were to fill your vehicle up with gas. That would cost you about $450 on the basic research," he said.

Down the road Duenas hopes to mandate GovGuam agencies to have a certain percentage of their fleet as EVs in order to lessen the island's carbon footprint.

The legislation calls for $375,000 to be appropriated from the General Fund to the Guam Energy Office -that would be enough to give out 50 rebates.