Electromobility from a woman’s perspective

Despite being a small and distant country, Chile is taking major strides towards electromobility — the use of electric cars, buses and other vehicles. In late January city officials publicly presented the final 214 electric buses that will refresh the fleet in the southern part of Santiago, Chile’s capital city. As of today, Santiago boasts the highest number of electric buses in the world (excluding China), with a total of 2,481.

Electromobility drives us towards a greener city. Replacing a single diesel bus equates to a yearly reduction of 30 tons of carbon dioxide. With 25 vehicle charging terminals in place, we have achieved 43% fewer polluting emissions and 50% less noise, benefiting passengers, transportation workers and residents throughout the city.

Chile’s Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz, has tasked us with promoting the inclusion of women in all aspects of electromobility, as this silent yet powerful transformation is crucial for our city. In Latin America, women are the primary users of public transportation. In Chile, 52% of trips are made by women, with 65.5% of these trips related to caregiving, shopping and transportation. This indicates that women tend to make more frequent, albeit shorter, trips every day.

A hundred years ago, when cities started building mass transportation systems, they didn’t have this type of user data. As a result, they mostly designed routes for daily commuters from their homes in the suburbs to their downtown workplaces. Unfortunately, city planners overlooked the unpaid work of women associated with the caregiving economy.

Efforts by governments to address the climate crisis have shown that rethinking our mobility is possible, with new technologies supporting this shift. In this regard, it is crucial for governments, civil society and academia to generate and share gender-disaggregated data. This is the key to integrating gender perspectives into urban planning. This type of data can also highlight differences among women, such as those living in urban and rural areas, or across different age groups.

There is still much to do and ideas to explore. Chile pioneered the creation of the first International Gender and Mobility Observatory, which now includes the participation of six government agencies. We have also been proactive in promoting more women drivers. Currently, 8.5% of Santiago’s buses are driven by women, a 62% increase compared to 2021. With efforts like these, we aim to continue making historic strides in reinforcing electromobility and enhancing public transportation, with a focus on women.

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