Mexico is developing its first electric car and Puebla has the responsibility of delivering it: Olinia

Mexico has a plan: the ‘Mexico Plan‘. It is the roadmap to attract investment and develop industries such as biotechnology, that of semiconductors either that of electric cars. With tariffs, Mexico has realized that it must depend more on itself, and Olinia will be a way to achieve this. It is the name of a family of ‘Made in Mexico’ electric cars that was put on the table last year as part of that ambitious plan.

And it needs -a lot- of money to get started.

The plan. In Mexico there is a beastly infrastructure to create cars. In fact, the United States bought thousands of units of those cars manufactured in Mexico each year. However, Trump’s latest policies They convinced some manufacturers to move to American soil. That made the Sheinbaum government realize that they need their own industry to achieve technological sovereignty, and Olinia was the answer.

in language nahuatl“olinia” means “to move”, and is the name of a family made up of three types of 100% electric and cheap vehicles:

• A small one for the personal mobility of young people and taking their children to school, as an alternative to buying a motorcycle.
• One for mobility in the neighborhood.
• One for last mile merchandise delivery companies.

Puebla. During these last few months the development of the car has been moving, but recently we have had two interesting developments. The first is the manufacturing area. Puebla aimed to be, due to some plants they had, a systems supplier for the Olinia. The Technological Institute of Puebla would be in charge of some tasks, such as design, but now everything will take shape there.

It will be one of the 60 technological innovation projects that will be developed in Puebla over the coming months, but it is evident that Olinia is the most visible piece of the strategy. The Government stated that the project is very advanced, but that we will have to wait until June for the launch of two prototypes.

The car platform

show me the pasta. This is not only a boost for Puebla in the particular struggle with Jalisco and Sonora to become the spearhead of the Mexican technology sector, but a declaration of intentions. It seems that the car is closer than we think and that commercial goal set in 2027 will be met.

But something fundamental will be financing. Olinia is a program backed by public money (scarce so far, according to Bloomberg), but it is already noted that a few more million from private capital will be needed for it to see the light.

At least, another 200 million dollars What the Government is looking for to be able to produce these first models in something that they describe as “a common practice in the market when talking about relations between governments and automobile companies.”

Lithium. Little by little, Olinia is taking shape and phases of development are being completed. The intention is for them to be short-range cars for short-distance urban trips, but beyond the issue of financing, there is something on the horizon that could put a brake on the Mexican electric car: lithium.

Because Mexico has some of the most important lithium reservesbeing a crucial component for the batteries of any device, but it is not produced on an industrial scale. And if it wants to be technologically and economically sovereign, perhaps the focus should be on discovering how to achieve a stable production of lithium and other critical minerals.

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