THE Philippine government needs to introduce incentives that would encourage investments in electric vehicles amid questions that they remain to be a fad in the country.
Elvira Gelindon, senior researcher at the Tokyo-based Asia Pacific Energy Research Center, said the Philippines still lagged behind other advanced Asian countries in terms of the greater adoption of “green” cars, especially those for mass transport.
“We really lack policy implementation,” she told SunStar Cebu in an interview.
Currently, most of the transport vehicles used in the country’s major urban hubs, like Cebu are still powered by fuel.
While its adoption in the Philippines remains slow, the industry is here to stay, with China leading the production of these vehicles.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian had filed Senate Bill 2137, which seeks to address the challenges to the development of the electric vehicle industry by instructing the Department of Energy to draw up a roadmap and for distribution utilities to include charging infrastructure in their power development plan.
Gelindon said the government should also give out incentives to those investing into the production of these vehicles.
That way, she said investments in the industry will eventually increase.
“Compared with other countries in Asia in terms of adoption, we lag behind. Ang bagal natin,” she said.
China has been driving the growth of the industry.
Major Asian cities are switching to electric cars to tackle worsening air quality, cut climate changing emissions and expand their public transport networks.
Gelindon cited that the Philippines should particularly focus on improving its mass transport system, and powering it with electricity is a move that’s already done by other countries.
According to the Asian Development Bank, transport is the fastest-growing source of climate-warming greenhouse gases, with the vast majority of projected increases expected to come from developing Asia by 2030.
Asian cities are also adding infrastructure for walking and cycling, which are seen as key to improved livability.
The world’s 100 most polluted cities are largely in Asia—with India and China dominating, according to an air quality report published by Greenpeace this year.
In the Philippines, the government has started the switch to clean-energy jeepneys, its main mass transport.
But while it’s slowly gaining ground, much still needs to be done to boost the usage of electricity-powered vehicles especially in mass transport. (CSL)