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If there’s one mysterious nation in South America, it’s Paraguay.

Its historical past is out of the realm of actuality. The primary nation to successfully stabilize in South America after Independence, changing into a “Perpetual Dictatorship” from 1816 below the paternalistic, isolationist, and all-together eccentric Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Karai Guasu (“Nice Lord” in Guarani), Paraguay was successfully an island till 1840. These previous days are remembered in folklore, even right here in Colombia, the place I realized as a toddler of the occasions when a robust native business was efficiently developed by a landlocked nation, solely to be later destroyed by power*.

It occurred throughout a complete conflict, the bloodiest in that century in South America, when Paraguay confronted alone the “Triple Alliance” of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Paraguayan males fought fairly actually till the final man … or virtually, as estimates point out as a lot as 90% of the male inhabitants died between 1864 and 1870. So dire was the state of affairs that the Radical Liberals of the then United States of Colombia declared that, ought to Paraguayans lose their nation, they’d be welcomed and robotically given Colombian nationality, as no man (or girl) ought to should stay with out a nation to name its personal.

But Paraguay would survive and retain its militaristic nature, changing into a hub for Mennonites and different spiritual minorities as one of many few international locations on this interval with out conscription: having a gun and understanding the best way to use it was seen as an honor, not an obligation. This could serve them throughout the bloodiest conflict in South America within the 20^th century (sure, they have been additionally concerned in that one), the place they defeated a a lot bigger and higher armed Bolivia throughout the “Warfare of Chaco.”

Oh, and did I point out that they’re the one nation on the continent the place many of the inhabitants nonetheless speaks its native language (guaraní)? And that almost all of its capital shouldn’t be even obtainable in Google Avenue View? Discuss mysterious! It comes as no shock that almost all of us on the continent know little or no about Paraguay.

Which is why I used to be so excited once I managed to get my fingers on official information displaying that even on this enigmatic land, we see the transition to EVs taking place in full swing!

Market Overview

I hope our readers might pardon my rant. I’m a historian, in spite of everything, and Paraguay’s historical past is actually fascinating. Hopefully, sooner or later I’ll know extra about it.

However our topic right here is EVs. As per the obtainable info, Paraguay has been steadily advancing in the direction of electrification, with EVs accounting for two.4% gross sales in 2024, in contrast with 1.4% in 2023:

Gross sales greater than doubled to over 800 models in 2024, most of them being BEVs. The quantity could appear small, however Paraguay’s market can also be very small, barely surpassing 35,000 models that very same yr:

Now, this information is for imports, not registrations, however so far as I may discover, there isn’t a native meeting within the nation … aside from some JAC fashions which have been being assembled in 2017. I presume these usually are not being produced anymore, but when any Paraguayan can enlighten me, I’d admire it. If there’s a considerable variety of automobiles produced within the nation, market share might be decrease, however I’m virtually sure that’s not the case.

In contrast to different small international locations, Paraguay appears to have a really aggressive EV panorama. Knowledge on market share is introduced individually for BEVs and PHEVs: Volvo leads BEV gross sales, accounting for 30% of them, adopted by BYD with 16%. Different vital manufacturers are Audi, BMW, and Leapmotor:

PHEV gross sales are in the meantime dominated by BYD, adopted by BMW and Volvo:

It’s value mentioning that, like Uruguay and Ecuador, Paraguay has fallen for Nissan’s handy nomenclature: the Nissan X-Path E-Energy (a non-plug-in EREV) is introduced as a BEV. The info was revised earlier than publishing and the 80-something X-Trails offered have been subtracted from it.

Ultimate Ideas

Paraguay is thought by its eccentric historical past, its Yerba Mate (a caffeinated scorching beverage extensively consumed there and in Argentina), its indigenous language … and it’s additionally recognized for being unknown (pardon the pun), a land kind of remoted unto itself.

However Paraguay shouldn’t be recognized for being a hyper-environmentalist nation of types (as, arguably, are Uruguay and Costa Rica), keen to go one step forward in innovation to be able to curb fossil gas utilization. It’s additionally not as rich as both of those international locations, but nonetheless it strikes forward in a transition that we have been as soon as instructed was solely going to occur within the wealthiest or essentially the most progressive of nations. Might this function a reminder that middle-income and poor international locations have their very own incentives to affect, and typically these incentives are stronger in much less rich nations. Spoiler alert: extra articles are approaching these issues.

Again on subject, most vital is the truth that Paraguay has large quantities of accessible renewable electrical energy because of the huge Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam, which lately turned the hydroelectric dam with the biggest historic manufacturing. Co-owned by Brazil and Paraguay, quite a lot of the Paraguayan manufacturing shouldn’t be wanted, so it’s exported proper again into Brazil, making Paraguay one of many few international locations the place “electrical energy” accounts for a major a part of exports (12.5%). Which means that, ought to EVs be adopted en masse, Paraguay could have the electrical energy available, and it’ll save extra money on gas imports than it loses on electrical energy exports.

Finally, in February, 20 electrical buses arrived in Paraguay from the Taiwanese producer Grasp Bus, with 10 extra on the best way. As with different international locations, Paraguay can also be noticing the advantages of electrical public transportation, and that is anticipated to work as a pilot that may carry extra e-buses afterward.

2.4% might not seem to be a lot, however it was solely three years in the past that we have been celebrating Colombia getting over 2% market share, and fewer than two years in the past that Brazil received there. Paraguay is racing forward of many different economies within the area (together with Mexico, Peru, and even Chile), and it looks as if it might be one of many international locations to concentrate on within the coming years.

*The financial historical past of Paraguay is much extra advanced than this, however for the aim of thriller, we’ll depart it at that. Additionally, as a result of this was presupposed to be an article about EVs.