Cuba’s vintage cars have vanished, replaced by Chinese-made electric tricycles as the main transport for thousands amid a fuel crisis.

The three-wheelers are a far cry from the old-timers that only a year ago cruised the streets spewing clouds of black smoke.

The tricycles, with a cost between $2,000 and $4,000, are used to transport goods and serve fixed routes once covered by buses.

These are no ordinary electric tricycles — many Cubans have outfitted them with solar panels, allowing the vehicles to recharge without relying on the island nation’s strained power grid.

*While their price is out of reach for most Cubans, many have sold their older gasoline-powered cars to buy the tricycles. *

Others got them from relatives abroad, where they are generally cheaper, and some small-business owners even used their profits to invest in them, expecting to recoup the cost.

Cuba has been experiencing an economic and fuel crisis for the past five years due to US sanctions, but since January the situation has spiralled out of control.

In January, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba, which produces only about 40% of the fuel it needs.

Since then, just a single oil tanker has arrived on the island, in late March — down from about eight a month previously.