DEMAND forecast for fossil fuel free public transportation in the country remains positive with around 5,000 electric tricycles (e-tricycles) and about 500 electric jeepneys (e-jeepneys) are expected to be deployed within the year nationwide, according to an official of a group of electric automobile makers in the country.
Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) President Rommel Juan said there are about 3,000 units that the Department of Energy (DOE) will distribute to some local government units and another 2,000 for the transportation industry.
For e-jeepneys, he said, there are 500 units in the pipeline that are expected to rollout in different areas, including General Santos, Taguig, Pateros and Quezon City where new routes have been just opened or soon will be available.
These figures, according to Juan, are on top of the e-tricycles deployed in various sites last year, including 250 in Boracay, 50 in Coron in Palawan, and 50 in Intramuros; as well as 100 e-jeepneys in subdivisions, industrial areas and resorts.
“Hopefully, once these upcoming electric vehicles will be deployed, there will be more demand,” he told reporters during the media launch of the sixth Philippine Electric Vehicle Summit at the Board of Investments office in Makati on Wednesday.
The electrification of public transportation in the country started a decade ago when the leaders of auto parts manufacturing industry joined forces in 2007 to form a consortium they named Philippine Utility Vehicle Inc. (PhUV).
This start-up automotive company blazed a new trail in the industry being the pioneer in assembly on a large scale basis, and actually putting on the road e-jeepneys. It is also the first to receive the official orange license plates and also the first to receive a government franchise to operate as a mass transport.
To date, the company has produced about 250 units of e-jeepneys and around 400 e-tricycles.
While he conceded the figures are not that much in a span of 10 years, Juan said that now is the right time that their production will increase given the implementation of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program of the Department of Transportation.
“But I don’t think we can supply the actual demand, which is by the thousands,” Juan, who is also the chief executive officer of PhUV, said while citing that most of the local electric vehicle players have the capacity to produce only between 100 to 200 units a year. “We need to invest in new facilities to really have an assembly line.”