Vehicle Dealership MD advocates for more hybrid vehicles

The Managing Director of Star Garage, Joshua Da Silva, is imploring Vincentians to switch to hybrid vehicles to combat anticipated increases at the pump as a result of the joint United States and Israel strikes on Iran.

Over the past two decades Da Silva has gained extensive knowledge on automobiles, particularly Hybrid vehicles, during his tenure at Star Garage, and he travels annually to Japan where he receives updates on hybrid vehicle technology, as well as the impact they have in the Eastern Caribbean.

In an interview with SEARCHLIGHT, Da Silva said he is already seeing an increase of hybrid vehicles in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), and across the world.

“[What is triggering the upsurge] is actually the actual trend in the world. What’s happening with hybrid technology, it has been trending. The vehicles are actually very good performing vehicles because it’s two engines, the electrical motor and the gas motor.”

However, he said some of the imported hybrid vehicles have already been used and tend to pose problems with their batteries.

“Well, there’s a big difference. The vehicles that are bought brand new from Star Garage, the hybrid, the batteries are actually being tailored and designed for our market, being that they have done a sense of study on the terrain, gas quality and the actual vehicle dimension itself…to make the best, effective and efficient battery for our market in SVG,” Da Silva said.

He added that “…most hybrid vehicles need a higher gas quality to perform, and what Toyota has done, they have made a vehicle adaptable to our market to get the best performance of gas saving and literally longevity”.

He thinks it is better to purchase a hybrid vehicle that is aged between one to six years as there is approximately three to four years on a warranty.

“…It’s still going to perform well because it’s made for our market.”

Da Silva added that Vincentians burn more gas than other countries because vehicles do not travel far and attain a certain altitude or highway miles where the vehicle’s momentum and velocity keeps it going.

“That’s the situation with SVG because consumers here will spend more money on gas in a short period of time than an average consumer in the United States or Canada…and it’s something that we literally have to study over the period of time…how much emissions that we actually curtail in SVG.”

He reiterated that this is simply due to the topography of SVG, the lack of highways, and the “stop and go” traffic, which shuts off the engine and places the vehicle into electric mode which saves a lot of gas.

“When the vehicle stops, it takes more power to regenerate, which is more gas to move off again, whereas [with the hybrid vehicles], we are in a state of literally just gliding with velocity, the engine at a certain point, keeping the RPM, all of that has a lot to do with actual gas savings that has been proven over the years.”

While he has never been against ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles Da Silva said the world wants to phase out them out.

“I still [think] there’s an effective use for it, but there is room for hybrid vehicles. All the gas prices going up now. Those are the actual up and down in the economy and what is going on in the world and all the shocks and tremors. The people that have hybrid vehicles will actually benefit at the pump because we expect gas to go up anytime soon. It’s something that’s gonna happen.”

Da Silva figures that as a result of the US/Israeli strike on Iran the price of fuel at the pump could rise to over $20 per gallon.