Hello

[CanCuba]

Unfortunately lots of grifters gravitate to religion to ply their trade. Been going on for a long time and no signs of abating.
How much is a litre of diesel in Havana?

A liter of diesel at the pump is 25 Cuban Pesos. If we calculate to USD using the offical exchange rate of 120:1, that would be under $0.05 USD! The street rate for USD cash is 190:1 right now that makes it under 1.5 cents USD!!

But there's a huge shortage right now of both diesel and gasoline. My father in law waited 2 days in line, he was allowed to mark his place and go home to come back later while they waited for the delivery at the station he was lined up at.

You can buy gas on the blackmarket for 500 CUP which is $2.63 USD/liter. But that's out of reach for people who don't operate taxis or other form of paid transport. That price will rise as the government cracks down on people "diverting" fuels.

The big issue is that the government buys these fuels in hard currency and then collects a pittance in CUP, a currency which isn't traded internationally. So they're basically giving away USD and EUR and collecting banana leaves. This really has to change as they're losing a lot of hard currency they collect through other means such as international medical brigades, tourism, exports, etc.

We just bought a new electric bicycle. 1000 watt motor and 35 amp hour battery. Just made a spreadsheet to calculate how many kilometers per volt we get. 48 volt battery is fully charged at 53.4 volts and a lithium ion battery cuts out at about 42 volts. So 10 volts of usage to be safe. My wife and I together weight 150kg, I'm 2/3 of that, and we did 27km with a voltage drop of 5.8v yesterday. That's 4.66km/v with both of us so just under 50km on a charge which is decent. Our last bike had a 20 amp hour battery so this one is almost double the range and we can easily keep up with traffic at 45km/h.

If I adjust for just my wife on it, she should be able to easily get the 100km on a charge that the bike is rated for. And it has pedals so it doesn't require a license. Neat little machine.

 

[Chango]

2 days waiting in line! What a nightmare. So very very few people can operate the few vehicles that run on fossil fuel. At least you have electricity to charge the bike. I'm guessing the power is not always available either. I hope people are paying attention, that could happen in this country.
No nation is immune to economic collapse. Best of luck CanCuba.

 

[CanCuba]

2 days waiting in line! What a nightmare. So very very few people can operate the few vehicles that run on fossil fuel. At least you have electricity to charge the bike. I'm guessing the power is not always available either. I hope people are paying attention, that could happen in this country.
No nation is immune to economic collapse. Best of luck CanCuba.

Now one can register at the service station of their choice and they use a WhatsApp group to inform people when they can fill up. Government even cancelled all transportation for May Day this year to allow for the public sale of the fuel that would have been dedicated for this.

I read a couple years ago during the previous fuel crunch that the country keeps a reserve of 45 days of consumption on hand. So it never actually runs ot.

We live in the hospital zone of Havana where we would be the last to have power cut. It's not a coincidence that we purchased there! lol

Having given up on the idea of a generator, it would be impossible to get fuel for it, we're looking into a solar setup which would provide all our electrical needs save for the air conditioning units (we have a total of 6 tonnes of air conditioning). Our roof is flat, as are virtually all south of Florida, and is ideal as it never gets any shade. Cost is really the only issue as importing to an island with a small market raises the cost significantly. I would be able to import what I need from Mexico or Panama but that would have to wait until next year.

I've never needed much to be happy. My wife has an excellent job with a European shipping firm and I'm about to open the Airbnb in a couple weeks. We're good. A couple hours without electricity is never the end of the world for us!

 

[Chango]

Take care of that wife! She is a keeper. You have the right attitude about what it takes to be happy.
The solar panel idea is a good one, if you can snag a used Siemens commercial 250w panel it can last you quite a long time after it's retired from commercial service. The power
output is reduced a little but still usable, and you save huge over a new one. There were a few places on ebay that sold used commercial panels but most are in the southern states where the sunshine is. I have not looked at them in a long time, I'm up north and have a surplus 1800 RPM diesel gen set that takes care of power outages. Also have a small Honda gas invertor for use around the place.

 

[CanCuba]

Take care of that wife! She is a keeper. You have the right attitude about what it takes to be happy.
The solar panel idea is a good one, if you can snag a used Siemens commercial 250w panel it can last you quite a long time after it's retired from commercial service. The power
output is reduced a little but still usable, and you save huge over a new one. There were a few places on ebay that sold used commercial panels but most are in the southern states where the sunshine is. I have not looked at them in a long time, I'm up north and have a surplus 1800 RPM diesel gen set that takes care of power outages. Also have a small Honda gas invertor for use around the place.

Thanks for the tip! It's not impossible to send things from the US to Cuba. Crowley shipping does four sailings a month between Miami and Havana. They've set up a service to receive parcels in Miami and then forward them to the recipient in Cuba. The original sender would not know the final destination for the item which is important when it comes to the embargo The sender can please ignorance as they were simply sending an item within the US to a US company.

Batteries will be the killer. Heavy items to send and complicated with regards to shipping due to the dangerous (relatively speaking) nature of batteries. But it's all doable.

And, yes, the wife is terrific. I cannot believe the amount of patience that she has with me!

 

[mat200]

A liter of diesel at the pump is 25 Cuban Pesos. If we calculate to USD using the offical exchange rate of 120:1, that would be under $0.05 USD! The street rate for USD cash is 190:1 right now that makes it under 1.5 cents USD!!

But there's a huge shortage right now of both diesel and gasoline. My father in law waited 2 days in line, he was allowed to mark his place and go home to come back later while they waited for the delivery at the station he was lined up at.

You can buy gas on the blackmarket for 500 CUP which is $2.63 USD/liter. But that's out of reach for people who don't operate taxis or other form of paid transport. That price will rise as the government cracks down on people "diverting" fuels.

The big issue is that the government buys these fuels in hard currency and then collects a pittance in CUP, a currency which isn't traded internationally. So they're basically giving away USD and EUR and collecting banana leaves. This really has to change as they're losing a lot of hard currency they collect through other means such as international medical brigades, tourism, exports, etc.

We just bought a new electric bicycle. 1000 watt motor and 35 amp hour battery. Just made a spreadsheet to calculate how many kilometers per volt we get. 48 volt battery is fully charged at 53.4 volts and a lithium ion battery cuts out at about 42 volts. So 10 volts of usage to be safe. My wife and I together weight 150kg, I'm 2/3 of that, and we did 27km with a voltage drop of 5.8v yesterday. That's 4.66km/v with both of us so just under 50km on a charge which is decent. Our last bike had a 20 amp hour battery so this one is almost double the range and we can easily keep up with traffic at 45km/h.

If I adjust for just my wife on it, she should be able to easily get the 100km on a charge that the bike is rated for. And it has pedals so it doesn't require a license. Neat little machine.

Thanks @CanCuba

I really appreciate the on the scene view you are sharing ..

While the price of the fuel is cheap, having to wait 2 days in line for it .. makes the price very high for anyone with decent work ..

 

[CanCuba]

Thanks @CanCuba

I really appreciate the on the scene view you are sharing ..

While the price of the fuel is cheap, having to wait 2 days in line for it .. makes the price very high for anyone with decent work ..

That's exactly what's happening. Spending that time waiting for fuel drives up prices. As does buying it on the black market. My FIL does as little driving as possible. He's in his early 70s and it's not a fun way to spend his time, as you can imagine. We're working on a way to help him out but it may get tricky if he's the one registered to buy fuel and it's my wife or I with his car when his turn comes up. He's a doctor and still does one 24 hour shift every 4 or 5 days. He loves it and it gets him out of the house.