New investors eye alternative fuels

MANILA, Philippines - A number of new investors are reportedly willing to pour in capital to help in the development of alternative fuels in the country, a Department of Energy (DOE) official said.

Energy Undersecretary Loreta Ayson said local bus company Pantranco is interested in fielding 1,000 buses to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) but it has yet to identify the source of fuel for the buses.

According to Ayson, Korean Gas (Kogas) the Korean Association for National Gas Vehicles (KANGV) and Korean Ministry of Environment are also keen in participating in the Philippine National Gas Vehicle Program.

On electric tricycles, Ayson said there are a number of other foreign investors looking at setting up businesses here.

“Malaysian companies in assembling e-trikes locally, Chinese companies GB Systems and others from Shanghai in lithium ion batteries and Japanese companies Nissan and Sanyo. Yamaha is looking into body assembly, Toyota is eyeing to put up charging stations, and Hitachi is looking at opportunities in supplying motors,” she said.

To cushion the impact of oil price hikes and reduce the country’s dependence on oil, the DOE is currently formulating the Alternative Fuels Roadmap that will serve as the fundamental policy framework on diversifying fuels for transport use in the Philippines.

The DOE is also finalizing the Fueling Sustainable Transport Program (FSTP) which seeks to convert public and private vehicles from diesel and gasoline to CNG, liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and electric power. Under the program, electric buses are envisioned to ply the metropolis, with the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) providing the initial fleet of 10 buses.

The program also includes the conversion of jeepneys to gas-powered vehicles or to e-jeepneys. The conversion plan will also promote standardized design for the homegrown public utility vehicle.

With FTSP, the government hopes to reduce the carbon footprint of road transport in the Philippines. It has been estimated that road transportation accounts for around 50 percent of the total air pollutants in the country.

As part of the mechanism of the Roadmap, the DOE has teamed up with the Asian Development Bank to establish the National Electric Vehicle Strategy (NEVs). 

For its pilot project, the city of Mandaluyong has turned to economical and “green” public transports plying its streets with the city’s receipt of 20 more electric tricycles (e-tricycles) from the government and ADB for testing and demonstration. 

The commercial run of the e-trikes started in May 2011 and results obtained from a period of four months yielded very good economic returns for the drivers in terms of fuel savings and higher net take-home pay.

To further strengthen the promotion of the program, an e-vehicles workshop was conducted last April that included a presentation of the global initiatives on electric vehicles (EVs) and local experiences on EVs by Mandaluyong, Makati, Puerto Princesa and Ateneo de Manila University.

Moreover, the EV technology is being demonstrated in other cities and municipalities, such as Makati, Taguig, Quezon, Puerto Princesa, Davao and Surigao del Norte. To date, there are 623 electric vehicles in the country which can be used to displace a total of 39,244 liters of gasoline fuel.

The DOE is also studying the possibility of partnering with local government units to formulate a program to be able to help municipalities acquire electric tricycles through the “E-trike Rent-to-Own Program.”

This program will be jointly designed by the LGU, DOE and a government financing institution (GFI) to be implemented nationwide.

A loan facility will be provided by the ADB for industry market transformation through the introduction and adoption of energy efficient electric tricycles. To achieve this objective, the program aims to deploy 100,000 electric tricycles with the use of lithium ion batteries in various key cities and provinces.

All these are part of the two agencies’ National Electric Vehicle Strategy. While the strategy is being developed, DOE will start piloting innovations in e-tricycles, e-jeepneys, e-buses, and e-cars with the help of local entrepreneurs, industry players and technical experts.