The Board of Investments launched Thursday the P550-million Mobility as a System project in Intramuros, Manila, the first of the three pilot sites where electric-trikes viability will be tested as a mode of transportation.
BoI executive director for industry development services Corazon Halili-Dichosa said the project was a grant from Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization in coordination with Japanese IT service provider SoftBank Corp.
“This pilot project will consist of 50 e-trikes that will be deployed within the Intramuros area manufactured by Bemac Electric Transportation Philippines Inc., with 17 charging stations strategically located within the pilot site,” she said.
BoI, the Intramuros Administration and MC Metro Transport Operation Inc. as members together with Nedo and Softbank will monitor the development of the project.
The project will run for two years, or from October 2016 to September 2018. Aside from being a historic landmark and tourist spot, Intramuros was selected as pilot area for the project considering the mix of people in the area which includes tourists and students.
Dichosa said the Philippines could be the EV manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia.
“We hope that more local and foreign investments will come and make the country their production base, thus create around 100,000 in new jobs for Filipinos,” she said.
She said the government was currently looking at making the procurement of an e-vehicle affordable through financing.
The Trade Department is working at a better financing window from the Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines.
This would make it more sustainable for potential EV operators given the massive capitalization needed to deploy at least 10 e-trikes.
BoI said there were different price points for an e-trike which could range from P350,000 to P450,000 a unit. An e-jeepney, which is another project in the pipeline, is said to cost about P850,000 a unit.
An e-trike can ferry about 6 to 8 passengers depending on the body mass. Passengers pay a uniform amount of P20 per ride regardless of distance which is comparable to the “padyak” or manual trikes that populates Intramuros and nearby areas such as Lawton and Port Area.
