Makers of e-vehicle parts seek incentives

VEHICLE parts makers assembling electric jeepneys are seeking government incentives to make more of them, an official said over the weekend.

“[They] want to avail [themselves] of incentives under the [Board of Investments’] Investment Priorities Plan,” Trade Undersecretary Elmer Hernan-dez said.

“But to do that they must be a participant of the Motor Vehicle Development Program, which sets a minimum investment requirement for the assembly of local vehicles,” he said, adding the parts makers could pool their investment in parts manufacturing and in assembling electric vehicles to comply with the minimum investment requirement.

The Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines was the first to make electric jeepneys or e-jeepneys. It has been producing five to 10 units a month since late last year through PhuV Inc., its business unit.

The group has also been asking the government how it can expand the market for electric vehicles, and Hernandez said he had told them to tap Southeast Asia.

“We are the only one in [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations] that is producing the electric vehicle. I told them to make sure the design was not copied so we could be first in the market,” Hernandez said.

The group should also start producing electric vehicles for personal use, he said, citing Canada where they are said to be gaining popularity.

“I told them that if they wanted to expand their market, they should [produce vehicles] that they could sell to subdivisions for short trips,” Hernandez said.

Toyota Motors produces an electric vehicle called Prius, which is designed for highway driving. The electric vehicles being produced locally are mainly for use within subdivisions or for short trips to school or the neighborhood supermarket.

The electric vehicles now being produced reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent, and they may be plugged overnight into any electricity outlet to run for up to eight hours the next day. Their power comes from a gas engine coupled to a bio-digester that is fed with biodegradable household waste.

PhuV president Ferdinand Raquel Santos says his group plans to mass-produce the e-jeepney and e-tricycle as a result of the warm public response to them.

“The truth is, our orders and inquiries so far are for large school campuses, resorts, golf and country clubs, villages, farm lands, theme parks, malls and even for mobile ads purposes,” he said.

“But we will [give priority to local government units] as we want to disperse the technology to the countryside as well.”

One customer, Green Renewable Independent Power Producers Inc., ordered 12 units last year for distribution to its partner local government units including Makati, Puerto Princesa and Bacolod. The group is the main proponent of the Climate Friendly Cities Program funded by the Doen Foundation of The Netherlands.

De La Salle University-Dasmariñas also ordered one unit last year, said Rommel Juan, an officer of the parts producers association.

“We are targeting to service resorts in Boracay, although no deals with specific resorts have been firmed up to date. We estimate all these orders to be supplied middle of next year,” Juan said.

The e-jeepney technology is a tested vehicle abroad and is said to be very popular in China, one of the more advanced countries in electric vehicle development.

The e-jeepney base model that Greentec China is supplying to local assemblers can seat 14 people, climb elevations of up to 20-percent grade, and withstand floods of up to a foot deep, a performance that is at par with the diesel-fed public utility jeepney.

The local e-jeepneys now ply select routes within the Makati commercial business district for free. Once fully integrated with the transport system, commuters will pay the same fare as they pay for riding conventional jeepneys.–Elaine R. Alanguilan, Manila Standard Today