With Guadalajara officials keen to take the horse out of the calandria (tourist buggy) trade, one Autonomous University of Guadalajara (UAG) professor proposes electric motors.
“Although the ideal would be to utilize a non-motorized vehicle like a bicycle, an electric motorcycle engine, while still a source of contaminants (when the electricity is produced at the mostly carbon-fuel-burning electric plants), it would contaminate less than a gas or diesel engine,” said professor Jesus Uriarte, of the UAG’s Center of Sustainability of Renewable Energy.
Uriarte indicated that the price of an electric motorcycle would be 10- to 15-percent less than a fossil fuel vehicle.
Guadalajara Mayor Enrique Alfaro has backed the idea of electric calandrias as well.
“The model of calandrias without horses should be electric vehicles. With this you cover two agendas: the protection of animal rights and the environmental agenda,” he said.
Enrique Dueñas, representative of the Industrial Chamber Advisory board, said if the calandria has no horses to pull it, it shouldn’t be called a calandria. “If they put another motor in it, it’s just a little car,” said Dueñas. “They should keep the horses in good condition and this should be checked.” But he concurred that if calandrias go the way of the motor, it should be an electric one. There are 55 calandrias operating in Guadalajara’s historic zone.
Alfaro said the new model will be presented in August and that 55 of the electric calandrias will be in operation by the end of the year.