DOE expands e-trike program

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) is set to offer electric tricycles to a wider audience of state universities and colleges, tourism growth areas, commercial areas, and subdivisions and other residential enclaves.

This will expand the program from the original plan involving just local government units (LGUs).

Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos said the project would be offered again for bidding to both LGUs and other interested sectors.

“The re-bidding of the e-trike project signals the entry of more and equal opportunities for LGUs and other interested sectors… With this improvement, we can strengthen and even intensify our campaign for energy sustainability in the transport sector,” he said.

Toward this end, the Energy department issued an invitation to bid for the supply and distribution of 3,000 units of e-trikes with the deadline on Jan. 5, 2015.

The DOE’s move to offer the project to a wider audience was conceptualized during a meeting for the project’s re-bidding held last month in Clark, Pampanga.

Key stakeholders including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), Board of Investments (BOI), and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) attended the meeting.

The project is estimated to run for five years and is on track for completion by 2017.

Each unit of e-trike, which will run on rechargeable battery, is estimated to cost P200,000.

The DOE earlier said the e-trikes would offered to LGUs under a lease to-own deal.

On the other hand, tricycle drivers shall pay the P180 per day boundary for five years to the LGU, according to the department.

The $300 million project has the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with the goal of replacing 100,000 gasoline-run tricycles presently used around the country.

The ADB said e-trikes are a cleaner, greener transport solution for the Philippines, and provide a better quality of life for tricycle drivers.

According to the DOE, the five-year program will enable the government to save more than $100 million a year in fuel imports.