#980 – Electric Cars in Latin America and Expat Life Insights

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started All right. Now. Here's something completely new and different. It was of great interest to me I don't know if it's of interest to you, but it's certainly a topic that needs to be discussed sooner or later So let me read this from Eddie not expat Eddie. This one's Eddie in Philadelphia. He says Johnny

[00:47] I plan on moving to Latin America within a year like you. I'm also an engineer a mechanical engineer I heard you're talking on your show a couple of months ago about Electric cars in Latin America and how there were very very few of them, but that's I guess to be expected Considering as you say there's like time for everything coming from the first world down to Latin America in any place in the third world My first question is Johnny how many of your listeners who seem to be very smart and probably in the upper tax brackets Too how many of them actually have electric cars? It would be interesting to find out I can tell you this Norway has the most electric cars per capita with just a little over 50% That's because they offer all kinds of tax incentives and gasoline something like eight to ten bucks a gallon with 80% of the gasoline

[01:36] Costs being government taxes and as far as the US and California about 45% of all the new car sales are electric Again because of tax incentives and the high cost of gas Makes you wonder what's gonna happen to electric car market when the tax incentives go away Especially with this kovat thing all governments Including state governments are completely bankrupt It's a 100% sure thing that they're all gonna increase taxes not lower that we can all count on so buckle up Here's the thing Johnny when I bought my first Nissan leaf in 2017. It was used I paid 15,000 for it and I was very nervous even as an engineer I was nervous back then in 2017 a Nissan leaf only had a hundred mile range While most of the newer ones had to even 300 mile range, but they cost 30 grand or more all the while

[02:25] I was thinking and my wife was pestering me about this too something with only a hundred mile range would that be enough? Would I regret that decision and my car end up in the garage as an expensive toy? Turned out and I never really calculated this before but the vast majority of my Driving is in town in less than 10 miles at a clip So I can put 10 to 70 miles a day on it and plug it into my 220 volt dryer outlet in my garage every time it's home And I always have a full battery every morning and Johnny I did the calculations too with equivalent $2 a gallon gas My electric cost that would get me the same range as a gallon of gas about 30 miles Would be around 60 cents as opposed to having a regular internal combustion car engine and since I got the car

[03:11] I installed solar panels on my roof and the battery pack in my Nissan leaf is 30 kilowatts So I installed 20 300 watt panels That's 6 kilowatts charging into my car battery every hour when there's decent Sun That'll just about charge my battery up completely in five or six hours The solar panels without batteries sent me back around 4,000 bucks people ask me all the time Solar panels with no batteries. I say I do have a battery the the car battery So if you just use the panels to charge your car, you don't have to buy batteries at all That would be nuts and now it costs me nothing to drive at all Except the occasional replacement of windshield wipers and tires and you know what Johnny? It's so much more fun to drive an electric car than a gas guzzler. You can't believe it

[04:02] It's crazy, but here's the confusing part. Well, this all works for me It doesn't work for my wife at least not in her mind. I'm with her on the idea to have a backup vehicle Though I suppose we could just rent a car for the rare longer trips that are over a hundred miles Meanwhile, I've got a big old tank of an SUV sitting in the garage That's worth 20 grand or so and it almost never gets used Except for trips back and forth to Menards and the hardware store to feed my weekend do-it-yourself project fix But you know Johnny, there's one thing you never hear about and I never heard about it either Electric cars are heavier than most cars and trucks due to those big batteries So the damage to the roads as they continuously amble on means there's a lot more wear and tear on the roads than with a regular

[04:48] car if everyone goes electric, how are we gonna collect road taxes because Gasoline and diesel currently pay the road bills at least that's what our government tells us that the tax on your gas is supposed to pay for Road maintenance and bridge in highway construction though. I was suspected for a long time. That could be a lie They just dumped that money into the general Treasury and whatever programs short Well, they borrow from Peter to pay Paul just like Social Security if anyone really thinks that fund exists They're living in La La Land by the way Johnny Did you know that Tesla's are too heavy to legally cross the Brooklyn Bridge? They exceed the weight limits for vehicles with four wheels. That's a small fact that you never see reported In fact, if you drive along country roads out in the boonies You'll go over many small bridges that all have a weight limit posted and Tesla's are mostly over the limit

[05:40] So maybe finding electric car drivers will pay the road taxes It's all about the weight of the batteries, of course But then again, that's what makes electric cars so maneuverable on curves and at high speeds You should see my Nissan Leaf take curves though. I never let foot it with the wife in the car She tends to freak out but man when you've got that kind of power and acceleration Boys will be boys even when the boys a geezer Oh and Johnny when you talk about those massive speed bumps in Latin America The first thing that came to mind was that the batteries are the lowest point in an electric car And they're also the most expensive part of an electric car I keep thinking one good smack against one of those speed bumps and you're in for an ultra expensive repair bill one more thing people don't realize when they see for example the Tesla factory and all that automation and

[06:31] Extreme technology that goes into those cars people think electric cars are rather delicate They're not electric cars are much easier to build in fact, and it takes half as many people to produce a car In other words, the workforce is cut by 50% in an electric car factory They have less than half the moving parts of an internal combustion engine car And it's always the moving parts that wear down in any car They're the weak links in any mechanical object because they touch and mesh with each other in engineering friction and heat kill Things like gears bearings spindles rotors and hinges, etc Those are the things that eventually wear down and need to be replaced People have heard of overhauling a car rings pistons valves valve stems main bearings fuel filters pumps and injectors

[07:18] Well electric cars have none of those parts in them So they never need an overhaul and there's another thing that bugs me Johnny every so often you see the news And it's mostly a Tesla because they're all in vogue now. You'll see one that's crashed and burned in a real fiery display So it looks and sounds to the public that electric cars are very dangerous, especially in big accidents Think about this. How dangerous would it be for passengers trapped in an electric car when it's been involved in a major accident? Answer not much at all not compared to an equivalent accident in the gas-powered car Think of gas leaking and igniting. How many times have you seen that scene in a Hollywood movie? drip drip drip you see the gas puddle as the firemen with the jaws of life race against the clock that could never

[08:04] Happen with electric cars So I guess Hollywood's gonna have to think of another way to make us squirm in our seats because a conventional car leaking gas and igniting Is a hundred times more likely to hurt or kill a passenger than any battery or electrical problem in an EV? So Johnny I started out this little rant talking about the conundrum I had worrying about the maximum distance I'd be able to drive in a Nissan Leaf that hundred mile limit on a charge was a real problem for me But now in late 2020 the newer SUVs have tripled that range and more with Tesla in a class by itself with a 400 mile per charge range Johnny if you your listeners are ever stuck in that other big argument about electric cars I'm sure you've heard it before that it takes hours to charge them up and with your gas car only five minutes to fill

[08:51] The tank well, they're certainly working on it And it's pretty much been conquered in a Tesla if your batteries running low You can do a quick charge in 30 minutes and drive another four hours No other electrics have that capability yet, but they all will by mid 2021 Though it must be said that rapid charging does lower the life of the batteries But I can't see many people doing that at all Seems to me it only wanted to a rapid charge in an emergency Not when you can leave your car charging overnight and have a range of 400 plus miles in the morning when you jump in That's equivalent to a full tank of gas in any regular car One last thing Johnny when you're at a dinner party or a get-together and people find out you're driving an electric car You get all kinds of questions and people want to go out and look at it in a way

[09:38] It makes you feel like the rich kid in high school who had the coolest car Especially if you've got a Tesla if you're a nerd it kind of makes you instantly popular I know it's just a temporary phenomenon won't last long the more electric cars come online the less attention They'll receive and how about this Johnny all the car questions. I get come from men Exclusively, so you could say electric cars kind of provoke sexism just like back in the muscle car days I also find the most common misunderstanding among non-electric owners Is that an electric vehicle uses about the same amount of energy to get from point A to point B? This is not factual because gasoline engines must be kept running all the time That means when they're going downhill Coasting to a stop or just idling at a traffic light or just inching along and stop and go traffic

[10:27] Well, John since I am a mechanical engineer. I couldn't help but do the numbers I estimate with my 2017 Nissan Leaf with its ancient EV technology I can go about 120 miles on the energy that would be in a gallon of gas Simply because when you're an electric car and going downhill idling or coasting to a stop You're using no energy from the batteries at all And if you put your hand on a regular gas car engine You'll probably burn it because they always run hot and that heat is wasted. That's pure inefficiency Gas engines have always been huge continuous wasters of energy. Thank God. We're now over that hump That brings me to my final question. I will be moving to Latin America. I've been there a few times I had my boots on the ground and I've never seen an electric car though

[11:13] I've seen a few hybrids and Priuses What I have noticed is that many older cars that you would never see on the road up in the states end up in Latin America, there's a constant flow of used and wrecked cars coming down from the auto auctions up in Texas ending up in Mexico Guatemala and Honduras, Nicaragua and points out I noticed while driving around in rental cars and ubers It was like every time I was stuck behind someone I'd always noticed the dealer logo sticker where it was bought in almost every case Unless it was a very new car It was some Jeep Dodge Honda Nissan or Ford dealership from somewhere up in the US That means almost every used car I was driving behind was first purchased at a dealer up in the states and somehow made it down to Latin America I suspect Johnny and it's probably not a good thing

[12:00] It'll be the same with older EVs that have been discarded up in the states That means the older ones the wrecks the EVs with their batteries on their last legs. They're gonna end up in Latin America So Johnny, I'd like to hear your take on that. Thanks for the great shows signed Stanford Well stand a lot of good information there. Thanks for that and I totally agree with you I believe lots of used and somewhat iffy electric cars are gonna end up here in Latin America quite soon But again, as you say, they're so much more dependable than regular gasoline cars and so fewer moving parts I believe it's all gonna boil down to a battery problem again The question will be how can you tell how much life is left in that battery? Once it ends up down here because as Stanford mentioned the batteries in an EV are the most

[12:50] Expensive part of the car. In fact, just now I checked a few battery supply houses up on the states and a new battery for a 2017 Nissan leaves around six thousand bucks and that's the stateside cost Then you have to add import taxes and shipping and those things weigh a ton So you're probably looking at seven grand or even seventy five hundred though in a couple of years when those hundreds of thousands of electric cars up In the states start showing their age That means there'll be hundreds of thousands of used battery packs on the market All of them with a somewhat limited life and we'll just tap to see how that shakes out For now, it's too early to tell plus you can count on some big battery breakthroughs in the next couple years, too And maybe just maybe it's a good thing that electric cars have not made it down here in any kind of big way

[13:36] Yet, the question is when they do start showing up on the car lots, would you buy one? I think no matter what the projected savings most Latinos will be too gun-shy to pull a trigger It's gonna be a difficult learning curve. That's for sure But as for me, I guarantee just as soon as one of the usual Suspect electric car companies comes out with a standard size pickup or a small or mini SUV Something with a lot of ground clearance. I will buy one I'm a solar guy with a driving urge to get off the grid permanently And part of that involves never having to buy a gallon of gasoline again But that's just me though in a way it's good for you That means if you keep listening to future episodes of the show You can follow along with my victories and setbacks as I move along on that trajectory

[14:21] So pay attention solar power and electric cars are the future. You don't want to be left behind meanwhile one of the top articles today on internet and rest of the media Highlights the fact that American tourists face bans and restrictions across the world due to their indecisive Pandemic response what they're saying is a US passport ain't the grade-a document. It used to be Speaking of making it more and more difficult to get the hell out of dodge This article starts by saying the reputation and prestige once associated with a passport from the United States has suffered Trastically as a result of the coronavirus response for Americans right now. It says traveling is harder than ever They're not welcome in the majority of the world's countries because the US response to the outbreak has fluctuated

[15:07] So as a result it says the US passport ranking has fallen 50% in the last year down from the number three spot For ease of travel to the number 19 spot according to the international passport ease of travel index Which brings us right back to the fact that more and more thinking people people of the brain are Getting the hell out of dodge or making plans to do so my ultimate plan B choice as always is Latin America Not everywhere in Latin America, of course There are some places you don't want to be and places that are absolute paradise The key again is to get boots on the ground I mean really you can go on the internet all day and night load yourself up with reams of facts and figures see a thousand YouTube's

[15:52] You can help narrow your choices down to a few destinations, but there's just no substitute for boots on the ground Then again, there's quality grade a boots on the ground and the kind of boots on the ground where you're just spinning your wheels I mean look you can book a nice all-inclusive vacation to Cancun or Playa del Carmen or whatever Go back home and tell all your friends you got boots on the ground and you did I know that vacation might have been a lot of fun Though as far as this contribution to your plan B research. It's worth almost nothing However, if you want a two to five year head start on your plan B There's no better way to do it and no better way to get boots on the ground that they come down to my January 2021 expat insider seminar read all about it the price is the itinerary everything at expat plan B comm and remember

[16:37] We've got a three payment plan And of course people have been asking what happens if there's another round of covid and they lock down the airports once again As you get closer to the seminar Well, everyone gets their money back every dime of it, you know for the August seminar That was supposed to launch right about now that we had to cancel because of the lockdowns everyone who signed up got their money back Though a few people elected to let their deposits ride until the 2021 seminar But everyone who wanted a refund got it within a couple of days. So don't worry about losing a dime You won't in fact since most everyone pays through PayPal, you know, I really can't stand PayPal myself But they have one good policy that's in your favor. They allow you to get a full refund within a hundred eighty days That's a half a year. So if you buy anything with PayPal and you're not happy with anything you bought or there's a cancellation

[17:24] Whatever you can get a full refund up to a half a year after you made the purchase. It's a good thing to know All right now a question from another listener mr. See Johnny hope you're doing well than living your best life here in Austin, Texas Cove it is blowing up and we've already had more than 10 100 plus degree days and my kid can't go back to school and some dumbass carrying a rifle at a BLM protest last night just got shot by another protester and Unfortunately, I haven't been to my house on Lake Atit land since Thanksgiving. Oh man, and that hurts So Johnny, what about homeowners insurance in Latin America? I spoke to my Latino lawyer about it and he referred me to some broker who can offer it though He said it's just not typical. I think this would be a helpful discussion on your show and your insight would be appreciated

[18:14] Well, mr. See good question, you know insurance here in Latin America is a very new thing In fact when I got down here 30 years ago They were just starting with car insurance and though most Latin countries now have mandatory car insurance I'd say up to 80% of the drivers on the road Don't even have that and you'd think if the cops pulled you over they'd ask you for that insurance car Just to make sure you're keeping up with the law, but they don't and I'll tell you right now I haven't met a single Motorcycle driver who's ever had insurance and 50% of those don't even have a valid driver's license You've heard me say that before funny enough though The thing that put insurance of any kind on the radar screen was the transnational companies that came in like Costco McDonald's Taco Bell Kentucky fry the first world franchise is who always give some kind of insurance plan to their workers up in the states and because

[19:03] Franchises are intended to be exact copies of each other all over the world wherever they might be That means the McDonald's and a Costco here in Latin America will just like in the states offer health insurance to their employees And now since Latin America is just loaded with first world franchises and companies Private health insurance and insurance brokers in general can be found in any city But what about homeowners insurance or umbrella coverage? Well still because insurance is a new industry people here in Latin America Don't view it quite like first world Americans do for example I was told by an insurance broker in my own family up in the states that it's well known in the insurance business The first bill an American pays is his rent second bill his car loan if he's got one number three his monthly insurance payment That's kind of burned into the psyche of every American besides playing the lotto

[19:51] But the fact is 99% of Latin Americans don't have homeowners insurance nor umbrella insurance for their businesses And it's not just because insurance is a new thing It's mostly because Latinos don't sue each other It's not a litigious society and the fact is if you fell down in a hospital or a Costco parking lot You tried to sue your lawyer won't take it seriously. He just might laugh at you then again You can buy a policy they exist, but almost no one ever does buy one I never have and I don't know a single gringo or expat who has the wall fresh green gringo is asked about it At first and some do get sucked in though if they're down here long enough They figure out eventually it's money in the toilet. Oh and remember up in the states. It's all about deductibles, right? Same thing here So then you might ask what about thieves and robbery?

[20:37] Well, the fact is almost all the thieving done down here is very small potatoes When I've had people steal things from me at my house and usually it's workers or cleaning ladies, whatever It's been a bike a spare tire a fishing rod a radio Nothing that could make the purchase of a theft policy worthwhile once you consider the deductible Which usually starts at 500 bucks and since your major crime here in Latin America is petty theft It makes no sense to report it and since the major coverage you have with an umbrella policy Fire theft earthquake water damage. Well, I can tell you one thing your house is never gonna burn houses down here I made a concrete rebar. Oh, they've got wooden doors and wouldn't trim in the nicer houses, too But nothing that's really gonna catch fire And of course, they've got fire departments everywhere called bomb arrows

[21:24] But nearly all of their calls are into poor neighborhoods where many people don't have concrete houses and they do build with 2x4s and plywood but neighborhoods that are middle class and higher are always concrete rebar and glass and about flooding Of course, you've got a heavy rainy season But the only people who ever get flooded out are the ones that built way too close to a river or a lake People who didn't do proper planning when they first built or bought their places You'd be surprised how many people don't respect or even know about the 50 or 100 year flood plains as far as earthquakes I've been through them. In fact two whoppers six and seven pointer But as always if your house is built to anti seismic code, it'll shake a bit But you won't have any real damage In fact, I can think of none of my gringo friends and acquaintances or my Latin friends and acquaintances

[22:12] Who've ever had any real earthquake damage even in those two whoppers? That's not to say it won't happen. But remember when you live down here in Latin America labor is unbelievably cheap For example, you get a carpenter or a mason or a jack-of-all-trades for something like 20 to 25 dollars a day That means let's say a hurricane comes through and you lose half your roof It won't cost you thousands only hundreds by the way That has happened to me and the damages in that case something like eight hundred bucks And you know if I would have had an insurance policy that protected me against hurricanes and you can get them I probably couldn't have collected because it didn't reach the deductible by the way I have a gringo friend and coach to Riga who's got a hurricane policy and his deductible is 2,000 bucks So in my case even with the loss of a half a roof, it wouldn't have done me any good anyway bottom line

[22:59] Should you get insurance? Well again, it's your call and I know Gringos don't feel comfortable unless they're all policyed up and you know the first few years I was down here I felt the same way too and I've had some pretty nice cars and properties over the years that were not insured Well, I take that back. My cars were always insured, but I never had full coverage I just had liability even with the newer cars because I knew whatever might happen I could always get things repaired for a song again. It's your call But all I personally carry is basic liability car insurance No matter what car I have and that sets me back around a hundred fifty bucks a year And of course, I have a nice private health insurance policy to the one I have right now has no Deductible and I pay less than a hundred bucks a month However, I do know that fresh green Gringos are all nervous about getting homeowners insurance right away

[23:47] And I say it's money in the crapper and for gringos and expats who say look Johnny with the lag time thing eventually Latinos are gonna start suing people like up in the States. Well, that's one lag time prediction I disagree with because the lawyer contingency payment system you have up in the States is not permitted here in Latin America That's what drives so many frivolous lawsuits up by you down here You have to pay the lawyer up front and as the case rolls along no contingency That's the single biggest reason why Latinos rarely sue each other and it's the single biggest reason why Latinos don't have homeowners or umbrella coverage Because you have to have money up front to pay a lawyer to sue someone. All right, mr. See asks another question in his email. It's about the Internet He says in a little village above Lake Atit land where my house is I've been told that a local company could hook me up with

[24:39] Internet and Wi-Fi. I don't doubt it. I just wonder if that's my best option Ultimately, I want reliability, but I wouldn't want to pay an excessive amount for it You talk about living off the tourist trail and out in the boonies I think a discussion on the best way to get internet access would be appreciated. All right, mr. See, let's have that discussion Here's the thing if you live out in the boonies or in some remote spots around Lake Atit land You might have spotty internet. I'm talking about the usual suspect internet companies like Claro and Tigo and Movistar Now there are always some companies that'll hook you up with localized internet coverage If you don't have coverage with the big cheap internet providers Though the people I talked to who live in and around Lake Atit land always tell me the coverage is pretty good with Very good smartphone coverage, too Well, I know what I'd do if I had spotty coverage since I don't want to pay a third party

[25:27] That's not one of the big internet companies to come in and charge me an arm and a leg There's another hack I use whenever I'm out in the boonies and there's not very good coverage First of all, you have to understand that the big companies like Claro and Tigo, etc Have good solid phone signals Even the tortilla lady and the shoeshine boys have a data plan on their phone because they use what's up all the time Now as far as Lake Atit land if you're living in one of the towns that are on the lake They all have pretty good internet But there are some tiny little towns of only two or three hundred people up the mountains that have spotty internet But the phone service is solid So why not set up an internet hotspot with your cell phone? And that's what I do anywhere out in the boonies when my internet modem is not solid I go into the settings on my phone and rig up a hotspot

[26:12] And what people don't realize is you can keep that hotspot going for minutes hours even days As long as you keep your cell phone data plan paid up I'm not saying you want to run a business that way through a hotspot But if it came down to it, you can't so by the way If you live in and around the most beautiful lake in the world Lake Atit land in Guatemala Then again people from Lake Como in Italy say it's the second most beautiful lake anyway If you live or happen to be at any one of the towns on the lake the ones you get to buy boat They've all got the regular usual suspect plans that are good and cheap What we're talking about now is when you get up the mountainside into the really small town So just a couple hundred people the thing is you'll notice all the little guys and gals around you are using their smartphones They don't have computers, but they have data plans for a fake book and insta crap and of course every latinos lifeline

[27:02] WhatsApp that means any one of them could go into the settings and set up an internet hotspot and borrow that signal on Their laptop or pad, but of course they don't do that because they don't have laptops iPads or galaxy pads now I know that doesn't sound like a very permanent solution But I'm sure there are lots of other gringos and expats around you can ask cuz they're not doing without internet In fact many of the mom-and-pop and boutique hotels perched way up in those mountainsides They have internet dead spots too, but they've got service check with them see what they're using You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B We can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat insider seminar in Central America

[27:50] Where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com