Home / Business and Economy / Cuban Mechanic's Charcoal Car Defies US Oil Blockade
Cuban Mechanic's Charcoal Car Defies US Oil Blockade
19 Mar
Summary
- A Cuban mechanic modified a Fiat Polski to run on charcoal.
- The car was built entirely from scrap and repurposed items.
- This innovation addresses fuel scarcity due to US sanctions.
Juan Carlos Pino, a Cuban mechanic, has developed an innovative solution to circumvent fuel shortages caused by U.S. sanctions. He modified a 1980 Fiat Polski to operate on charcoal, a more accessible fuel source on the island. Pino constructed the entire contraption from scrap and repurposed items in his workshop in Aguacate, a town east of Havana.
The charcoal burns within a converted propane tank, with a filter made from a milk jug and old clothes. This invention emerges as a critical response to Cuba's prolonged scarcity, exacerbated by the U.S. cutting off oil shipments and threatening tariffs on fuel suppliers. Gasoline is now strictly rationed and expensive on the black market.
