President Gustavo Petro on Sunday celebrated long lines forming at Tesla showrooms and joked that he would buy an electric car “if I knew how to drive,” as the U.S. electric-vehicle maker opened sales in Colombia and stirred fresh debate over the country’s transport future.
“Those are the lines in Bogota to buy an electric car. If I knew how to drive a car, I would buy an electric one,” Petro wrote on X. “For those of us who cannot buy, I recommend pressing for the move to electric and rail public mass transit,” he added.
Tesla officially launched in Colombia on Nov. 20 with two sales locations, at the Andino shopping center in Bogota and El Tesoro in Medellin, and began taking online orders. The company introduced two of its global models to the market, the Model 3 sedan and the Model Y compact SUV, with advertised starting prices ranging from roughly 109 million (US$28,580) to about 119 million Colombian pesos (US$31,199). Tesla told the event it expects first deliveries to arrive on Colombian streets between late January and early February 2026 and plans to deploy Supercharger fast-charging stations and service centers in major cities.
Petro and other officials suggested that the arrival of Tesla suggests a rise in consumer demand during his administration
The arrival has prompted crowds at showrooms and test-drive events, a sign, Petro and other officials suggested, that consumer demand for cars has risen under his administration. Petro used the moment to press a longer-term policy point, that Colombia should accelerate investment in electric mass transit and rail to expand mobility options for those who cannot afford private EVs.
Colombian media coverage has also focused on the practical economics of ownership, including the cost to recharge Tesla batteries. According to El Tiempo’s reporting and data, the paper cited from Enel Codensa, a Model 3 standard variant, requires roughly 170 kilowatt-hours to reach a full charge. Using local residential electricity tariffs published by Enel Codensa, El Tiempo calculated that a full charge in a middle-income (stratum 3) residential area, at about 740 pesos per kilowatt-hour, would cost roughly 125,800 pesos (US$32.98).
Content creators @priceitcol and @finanzaseduardo, cited by El Tiempo, offered further context. A Tesla Model 3 consumes about 16.8 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometers, and at an illustrative average electricity price of 1,000 pesos (US$0.260) per kilowatt-hour, that would translate to roughly 16,800 (US$4.43) pesos to travel 100 kilometers. Those figures, the stories noted, vary by city and by the local utility’s tariff schedule.
Petro’s public comments tie a consumer moment to longstanding policy priorities for his government. “For those who cannot buy, I recommend pressing for the move to electric and rail public mass transit,” he wrote on X, reiterating his call for investment in electric buses and rail infrastructure that would broaden access to low-emission transport.
Analysts and consumer advocates say the Tesla rollout underscores both the appeal of EVs among wealthier buyers and the policy choices facing Colombian authorities: Whether to subsidize private EV adoption, accelerate construction of charging infrastructure and public electric transit, or focus on equity measures so that environmental gains are widely shared.