An electric tricycle driver in Havana installed a 650W solar panel to charge his battery without relying on the power grid, in a scene that Claudio Pelaez Sordo captured on video, which encapsulates Cuba in April 2026: people improvising to survive.
On Facebook, he posted a video where he explains that the panel, from the brand BlueZone, takes about eight hours to charge a 60V battery and provides the vehicle with a range of between 80 and 100 kilometers, enough for several days of work.
The reason for the installation is neither technological nor environmentally conscious; it is pure necessity.
The driver explained it bluntly: "Yesterday I was given one for about 12 hours, and they turned it off in the early morning. And at 6 in the morning, they took it away from me."
Unable to charge the battery through the conventional grid, the solar panel ceased to be a luxury and became the only way to continue working.
This Thursday, for example, power outages in Havana last up to 22 hours a day, with a national generation deficit exceeding 1,700 MW against a demand of 3,100 MW.
The electricity crisis reached its most dramatic moment on March 16, when the National Electric System completely collapsed for nearly 30 hours, leaving more than nine million people without power. A second complete collapse occurred on March 22.
Behind the energy disaster lies a series of factors that accumulated in just a few weeks: Cuba needs about 110,000 barrels of oil daily but only produces 40,000 locally.
Venezuela suspended the shipment of between 27,000 and 30,000 barrels per day following the capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3.
Mexico cut its exports —which accounted for 44% of Cuban imports— on January 9, under pressure from sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.
The result is evident on the streets: public transport is almost at a standstill, gasoline in the informal market is more than six dollars a liter, and tricycles with solar panels are starting to become a common sight in Havana.
It is not an isolated phenomenon. At the end of March, a video of an electric bicitaxi with an integrated solar panel that recharges while it circulates went viral on TikTok.
In Matanzas, mechanics unveiled a prototype of a handcrafted electric vehicle with a 2,000W motor.
In Mayabeque, a mechanic adapted a 1980 Fiat Polski to run on charcoal through gasification.
But accessing a solar panel is not within everyone's reach. In the informal market, they cost between 990 and 1,000 dollars, equivalent to more than two years of the average Cuban salary, according to a report from 14ymedio.
Only those with access to foreign currency can afford it, making solar energy a new marker of inequality on the island.
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