More e-vehicles available soon

More electric jeepney and electric tricycle will be available soon after local manufacturers teamed up with Chinese suppliers.

“These e-jeepneys are not intended to replace the current PUJs (public utility jeep) plying the major thoroughfares of Metro Manila and major cities. In fact, the LGU (local government units) beneficiaries and end users will run them only on either short, closed loops or experimental routes not currently serviced by the PUJs,” PhUV Inc. president Ferdinand Raquelasantos said in a statement.

“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. But we will prioritize the LGUs as we want to also disperse the technology to the countryside as well,” he added.

According to Raquelsantos, electric cars are not a new concept to China . Electric cars have been popular in China for a number of years.

He said the e-jeepney which will be supplied by China can seat 14 persons, climb elevations of up to 20 percent grade and withstand flooded streets of up to one foot.

“This is a performance that I believe is at par with that of a regular PUJ,” he said.

However, because the concept is still being introduced in the country it will take some time to educate the drivers.  

PhUV Inc. is the first to locally design, fabricate, assemble and actually put on the road a locally-assembled electric vehicle, the e-jeepney. This unit is now undergoing more test runs at the Legaspi Village in Makati .

The e-jeepney is a cleaner alternative to smoke belching, fossil-fueled vehicles and is one of the major components of a bigger advocacy - the Climate Friendly Cities (CFC) Program.

This is a program funded by the Doen Foundation of Netherlands and is spearheaded by Green Renewable Independent Power Producers Inc. (GRIPP), a group of environmentally-conscious entities with PhUV Inc. as one of its major prime movers.

GRIPP has agreed to supply ejeepneys to Makati, Pasay, San Juan, Taguig, Bacolod and Puerto Pricesa under the CFC program.

The CFC program is a fully-integrated program targeted at LGUs to mitigating climate change by generating electricity from alternative means.

Power will come from a gas engine connected to a biodigester fed with biodegradable household wastes from the segregated wastes of the community. This will be housed in a depot with a charging station that will also serve as the terminal for the fleet of e-jeepneys. The e-jeepneys will be the end users of the electricity generated from this mini power station.