Pilot test of new diesel engine for PUVs eyed

Monday, January 23, 2012

THE Transportation and Communications department is eyeing to pilot test brand new diesel engines to determine the most cost-efficient of the alternative fuels – liquefied petroleum gas and electricity – on public utility vehicles.

“Additional studies are also being done to find ways to improve the efficiency and reliability of jeepneys that could run on alternative fuels,” DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas stressed. “We will not rush into alternative fuels. It has to make sense in terms of fuel economy.”

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He added that the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Department of Energy are working closely with the University of the Philippines to ensure the use of LPG-jeepneys and e-jeepneys “as replacement to high emission diesel fuel.”

The alternatives would be in the right specifications to assure their safety, reliability and affordability, he added. “I’ve also met up with a number of transport group leaders and explained to them that the government will help them switch to a viable fuel alternative. As per studies, this move will make good financial sense, particularly to the jeepney operators and drivers.”

Initial studies by the UP School of Mechanical Engineering commissioned by the DOE showed that “little savings, if at all, are realized from the conversion of a diesel engine to LPG.”

Since the engine conversion can cost somewhere around P300,000, jeepney operators will be hard-pressed to pay this amount if no savings can be realized in the first place, the official said in a statement over the weekend.

Roxas added that the conversion of a jeepney to LPG is costlier than a taxi since the latter runs on gasoline and only needs to install a conversion kit. “In the Philippines, almost all jeepneys have secondhand or even third-hand engines, so converting to LPG requires changing the whole engine, including the transmission and differential, which is why the conversion is costlier.”

He admitted that it would be grossly unfavorable to the jeepney driver or operator if they are saddled with the P300,000 price tag without the assurance of savings from the conversion. “Alternatively, e-jeepneys cost about P650,000 and like LPG jeepneys, are touted as one of the solutions to solve the perennial problem of oil price hikes and environmental problems that are intertwined in the public transport sector.”

While efforts are ongoing to ensure that the cheapest and most efficient engines can be developed, what is most important is to come up with a step-by-step, methodical and scientific way to ensure that the earnings of jeepney operators and drivers are not lessened by a costly technology.”