Costa Ricans buy more electric vehicles per person than almost any other country in the Western Hemisphere, a fact that would not surprise anyone stopping recently at the Croc Skywalk, a tourist attraction above a slow-moving river where people can gawk at sunbathing crocodiles.
Numerous electric vehicles, most of them made by Chinese companies like Geely and BYD, were parked outside a gift shop and restaurant near the skywalk, about an hour and a half south of San José, the capital.
Several cars were plugged into a bank of shiny chargers while their owners checked out a lone crocodile lounging in murky water.
Costa Rica is a leading example of how electric vehicles are rapidly gaining popularity in many less affluent countries that are not part of the giant U.S., European and Chinese auto markets. There are signs that the war in Iran, which has sharply raised the cost of gasoline and diesel, is accelerating this trend.
Electric vehicle sales in Latin America, Africa and much of Asia — a grouping that includes billions of people but that analysts often refer to as “rest of world” — soared 79 percent in March compared with a year earlier, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a research firm. For all of 2025, sales of electric cars in these countries jumped 48 percent.
All told, electric vehicles accounted for 18 percent of all new car sales in Costa Rica during the first three months of the year, second only to Uruguay in Latin America. That is three times the figure in the United States, where Tesla ushered in the modern electric car revolution roughly 14 years ago with its Model S.
Governments in Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Uruguay and many other countries are promoting electric vehicles as a way to become less dependent on imported oil, a drain on their economies and precious foreign currency reserves. Costa Rica is not an oil producer and generates almost all its electricity from hydropower.
“It gives Costa Rica energy sovereignty,” said Kattia Cambronero, a member of the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly who in April pushed through a law to speed up the construction of charging stations.
Costa Rica’s president, Rodrigo Chaves, a right-wing populist, is expected to sign the legislation even though he and Ms. Cambronero are bitter political foes. No Costa Rican politician wants to alienate electric vehicle owners, a growing constituency.
Costa Rica also shows what happens when there are no barriers to inexpensive Chinese-made vehicles. BYD, Geely, MG and dozens of other Chinese brands have quickly taken over a market previously dominated by Japanese, American and European brands. Models by Western carmakers, including Tesla, are practically invisible.
At least three Chinese electric models sell for less than $20,000, according to Asomove, a Costa Rican electric vehicle association. Electric vehicles are increasingly affordable in countries like Costa Rica, which is rich by Central American standards but has a per-capita income only about one-fourth that of the United States.
When Asomove polled its members, “70 percent said they changed to an E.V. because of the savings, not environment, not health — to save money,” said Silvia Rojas, the organization’s executive director.
In some ways Costa Rica is well suited to electric vehicles. Most people have short commutes, and it’s possible with some cars to drive from San José, in the center of the country, to the Pacific coast and back without needing to recharge.
Costa Rica began encouraging ownership of electric vehicles in 2018 by exempting them from taxes and fees. The goal was to help the environment, in line with Costa Rica’s sustainability policies, said Ms. Rojas, who helped pass the law as a legislative aide. Eco-tourism is a major industry.
Now, with oil prices high, the policy looks smart. But Costa Rica and other poorer countries remain vulnerable. Most heavy trucks run on diesel, and cars with internal combustion engines still account for most new vehicle sales.
“It helps,” Sergio Capón, president of the Costa Rica Chamber of Industries, said of the popularity of electric vehicles. “But we’re very concerned about the capability of our electric matrix to support this growth.”
Dry weather hurt hydropower production several years ago and almost led to energy rationing. More needs to be done to exploit Costa Rica’s abundant sunlight for solar power, Mr. Capón said.
Marco Acuña, chief executive of Grupo ICE, Costa Rica’s largest utility, noted that electric vehicles usually charge at night when rates are lower, and that the utility is investing in new power generation, including solar power. “We don’t see any issues in providing electricity for electric vehicles,” he said.
Electric vehicles are growing in popularity even though owning one takes fortitude.
At the Croc Skywalk, the two most powerful chargers were not being used, probably because they had the wrong plugs for Chinese cars.
Inside the gift shop, a clerk paused from ringing up sodas, souvenir key chains and straw hats to look for an adapter that would allow the driver of a Chinese-made BYD to use a low-power charger. But another customer had already borrowed it.
Outside, Aramis Pérez Mora, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Costa Rica, struggled to get his battery-powered Toyota to connect. The charger plug fit, but the car’s software was not compatible.
Mr. Pérez, who has conducted research on the flaws in Costa Rica’s electric vehicle infrastructure, was happy to see multiple chargers along a busy route that connects San José to the Pacific coast. But he wondered why the plugs were designed for European models that very few Costa Ricans buy.
“Good idea, bad implementation,” he said.
Electric vehicle sales began to take off in 2023 when Chinese models started appearing in large numbers. Some were sold by authorized dealers, but many were imported by Costa Ricans who bought them from dealers in China and transported them by container ships.
As a result, Costa Ricans can choose from a dizzying array of Chinese brands.
Recently, at an upscale shopping center in San José, people milled around displays of Chinese brands like Avatr, Chery and Dongfeng. The cars had been brought to Costa Rica by unauthorized dealers. Even the lone Tesla on display was a gray-market import from China.
“Here in Costa Rica you can import anything you want,” Ms. Rojas said as she surveyed the scene. She has become an electric vehicle evangelist, holding workshops in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Kenya.
Toyota remains the most popular brand in Costa Rica, but its share has slipped. Imported Chinese cars, including hybrids and gasoline models, account for more than a third of the Costa Rican car market, according to Grupo Purdy, the country’s largest car dealership company.
“We’re living probably the biggest disruption since we went from the horse to a car a hundred years ago,” said Alejandro Rubinstein, chief executive of Grupo Purdy, which sells Toyotas, Lexuses, Volkswagens, Fords and XPengs, a Chinese electric car brand.
Mr. Rubinstein said he had been astonished by XPeng’s corporate metabolism.
“Every year they’re bringing a new model, a new car,” he said in his office above a Lexus dealership. “It’s not the usual thing you see from other brands.”
The result is a brutally competitive market in which prices are falling fast.
Manuel Burgos Saenz, general manager of Electric Vehicle Experience, a San José dealership that sells only Chinese brands, gestured recently toward an Aion Y Plus, a $19,000 hatchback made by Guangzhou Automobile Group.
“I need to sell it as quickly as possible because if I don’t sell it, I’m going to lose money,” Mr. Burgos said.
Business is lively, he said. The dealership is taking over an adjacent space to display and service its products, which include a $60,000 luxury sport utility vehicle and an orange $200,000 roadster that can travel zero to 60 miles per hour in a tick over two seconds.
Costa Rican businesses are also adopting electric vehicles.
Auto Mercado, a grocery chain, has cut the cost of making online deliveries 5 to 10 percent by switching to electric vans, said Felipe Alonso, Auto Mercado’s head of e-commerce.
“The customers love it, the drivers love it,” Mr. Alonso said at one of the firm’s stores in San José. Vans made by BYD and Maxus, a division of the Chinese automaker SAIC, charged in a parking garage below.
Biusa, a private bus company, is replacing its entire 60-bus fleet with battery-powered models made by King Long, a Chinese brand.
The electric models cost $50,000 more than diesel buses from King Long, but the company can quickly make up the difference by spending less on fuel and maintenance, Miguel Zamora, a Biusa executive, said as he stood near a row of chargers.
The buses easily cover their daily routes on a single charge, he said. Ridership has increased because passengers like the quiet ride and superior air-conditioning.
The buses, Mr. Zamora said, “literally pay for themselves.”
David Bolaños contributed reporting from San José, Costa Rica.
Jack Ewing covers the auto industry for The Times, with an emphasis on electric vehicles.
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