For fear of the them exploding, a private parking lot prohibits recharging batteries
14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, September 30, 2024 — The massive arrival of electric motorbikes or “motorinos” to Cuba, first from China and now from several Latin American countries, has been accompanied by multiple accidents caused by the explosion of batteries in private homes. Entire families have died in those fires, and many Cubans are afraid of the motorinos, considering them to be time bombs.
“It is forbidden to charge electric motorcycles,” says a sign on the door of a private parking lot on Rodríguez Street, in the Havana neighborhood of Luyanó. Whoever who reads it, does not take long to notice the reason for the apartheid, which divides the plugs between motorcycles and the rest of the vehicles.
“People are terrified of those motorinos because lately many have exploded,” says Raquel, a neighbor of the parking lot who remembers having recently seen the news about one of these accidents on social networks. The explosion she is talking about occurred in the capital itself last Wednesday, when one of those vehicles caused a fire at number 59 Picota Street, between Jesús María and Acosta, in Old Havana.
Last Wednesday one of those ’motorinos’ caused a fire at number 59 Picota Street
In addition to the charred furniture, the destroyed objects and the smoke stains on the facade of the building, a 60-year-old man, identified as Lázaro Calzadilla, lost his life.
Before that accident, another explosion in the Diez de Octubre neighborhood in August ended the life of a family of four – including a baby – with only a 13-year-old girl surviving.
Experience has shown Cubans that you don’t need to tamper with the battery, overuse the motorbike or overheat the circuits for one of them to explode unexpectedly and destroy everything around it. “I understand that they don’t forbid them from entering the parking lot,” Raquel reflects, “but if they don’t show up, it’s better.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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