SANTIAGO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chile will ban sales of most internal combustion vehicles in support of electric vehicles starting in 2035, the Chilean government announced Friday as part of its National Electromobility Strategy.

All sales of light and medium vehicles, public transit and large machinery, will be zero-emission vehicles by 2035.

"Today is a historic day for Chile. We have a new electromobility strategy, which allows us to accelerate our goals and align ourselves with international standards," Chile's Minister of Energy and Mining Juan Carlos Jobet told local media.

"We will improve Chileans' quality of life, contribute to our industries' competitiveness, and provide a clean and optimal electrical grid for the development of electromobility," Jobet said.

Minister of Transport and Telecommunications Gloria Hutt said that the development of electromobility "is key to advancing toward more sustainable cities, where public transport plays a fundamental role."

"We have been promoting this revolutionary change and that is why about 1,000 electric buses will be incorporated into the (Santiago) metropolitan public transit system, bringing the total to over 1,700 buses in circulation," Hutt said, adding that electric buses will also be introduced in other regions of the country.

Over a third of Chile's energy consumption is in the transportation sector, with almost all using fossil fuels.