As US tries to starve Cuba, solar electric garbage trikes offer a lifeline

A US fuel blockade has left Cuba short on gasoline and diesel, causing widespread problems including a breakdown in garbage collection in Havana. More than half the city's garbage trucks are out of commission, and trash has been piling up in the streets. In response, Cuba has been rapidly expanding solar power with help from China, and one small company is using that solar buildout to solve a very local problem: trash pickup in part of the Vedado neighborhood.

The project, called El Rampeño, runs electric three-wheeled cargo vehicles that charge at a small solar-powered lot with battery storage. The trikes have a 5.4 kWh battery (a battery chemistry called lithium iron phosphate, known for being durable and stable), 30 to 44 miles of range depending on load, and can carry up to 600 kilograms of trash. Unlike Cuba's traditionally free, government-run trash service, this one charges a monthly fee, though it says it waives that fee for vulnerable residents. Since starting last month, the service area has visibly cleaner streets than surrounding blocks.

There is no direct link to home energy upgrades in the US here. This is a story about how solar power and small electric vehicles are helping one Cuban neighborhood cope with a fuel shortage, echoing an earlier wave of electric motorcycles that filled a similar gap in 2019. It is a glimpse of solar and electric vehicles being used out of necessity, rather than a program homeowners elsewhere can access.