Going solar

Last week I tried the solar e-jeepney. I got on near one end of its route along a major thoroughfare. It was approaching midnight and I was the lone passenger.

In the city of Manila where I was born and bred, I wouldn’t dare ride a regular jeepney at that hour, carrying my MacBook Air and iPhone, if I were the only passenger.

But the Star 8 e-jeep, painted white with eco-green accents, looked as bright as a hospital emergency room. I thought if I got mugged, there was a high likelihood that someone on the street or in another vehicle would witness it.

So I settled down on the seat with green velvet upholstery in the vehicle, which looks like a cross between a jeep and a mini bus. Small electric fans lined the ceiling, all solar-powered like the bright lights, the conductor told me with pride in his voice.

The vehicle, designed for 25 people including the driver and an assistant, needs a conductor to collect the fare and operate the computer beside the driver to calculate the amount. In some countries, these machines are operated by the passengers themselves. In Manila, rather than waste time waiting for people to get the hang of it, and also to avoid damaging the machine, the Star 8 conductor does the work.

Below the seats are outlets for charging mobile phones and other small devices. There’s free Wi-Fi and a screen above the driver, giving information about the e-jeep and the other e-vehicles offered by Australian company Star 8 Green Technology Corp.

Star 8 has partnered with the Department of Transportation for the public utility vehicle modernization program.

Like other e-vehicles, the e-jeep motor made little noise, and of course it had zero emission. It was a comfortable, even enjoyable ride.

Other passengers got on; they seemed used to the e-jeep. Metro Manila never sleeps, but traffic is light at that hour, so even if the e-jeep can run no faster than 45 kilometers per hour, I reached my destination in no time. My fare: P12.

At noon in this summer heat, the e-jeep would surely be less comfortable, even with all the solar-powered fans. Not to worry, the conductor and driver told me; air-conditioned versions would be rolled out soon.

Star 8 opened its showroom in Las Piñas in November 2016. Its website says it has offices in Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Ghana, India, Indonesia and Jordan.

The company deployed its e-jeepneys along the route only last month. Eight more will soon be added. The other night I saw an e-jeep along the same route, and it was standing room only. The vehicle is designed to allow people to stand on the aisle, like in buses, so that 23-passenger capacity can be nearly doubled.

Unlike ordinary jeepneys, there’s no grime and deafening radio music, or street kids jumping in and begging from passengers. There are no stickers declaring that drivers make “sweet lovers.”

The route of the e-jeep crawls along electronically on the front and back of the vehicle. Painted in green on the body is the slogan: “Pure solar. It just makes sense.”

And it does. Even operators of regular jeepneys will agree. The e-jeep needs eight hours of battery charging for daily use. The savings in gasoline costs and the passenger capacity make the e-jeep attractive enough for operators. And who wouldn’t want a clean, green vehicle?

The problem, as jeepney operators have pointed out, is the steep initial investment required.

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This is the biggest snag in the jeepney modernization program, in which the government is trying to get operators of the traditional jeepneys to upgrade to eco-friendly and more efficient versions.

The e-jeepney like the one that I took costs P1.6 million; a smaller 20-seater is priced at P1.4 million. This must be at least three times more expensive than a new regular jeepney. Even with the government dangling financing schemes to jeepney operators, they still complain that the e-jeep is simply beyond their means. They worry about defaulting on their repayments and seeing their e-jeep repossessed.  

So the initial investors in the e-jeep are likely to be earning much more than the typical small-scale jeepney operator. Star 8’s Australian CEO Jacob Maimon reportedly plans to bring a total of 12,000 e-vehicles to the Philippines

If enough e-jeeps are fielded, however, it will likely succeed where all administrations have failed: in phasing out the regular jeepneys. These will be relegated to secondary routes.

What I’ll miss is the festive artwork on the jeepney body reminiscent of Philippine fiestas. Maybe artists have become too expensive.

The artwork is still evident in jeepneys as large as mini buses that ply the streets of Cavite. The traditional jeepney is a Philippine cultural icon and cannot disappear completely.

Commuters like clean, safe and efficient rides, especially if they are affordable. The e-tricycles have become ubiquitous in the city of Manila and several other areas.

Regular jeepneys aren’t going to vanish overnight; there are simply too many commuters and not enough mass transport vehicles. But change could come rapidly the way ride-hailing services disrupted the regular taxi industry.

In this environment, operators of regular jeepneys will have no choice but to upgrade or see their businesses perish.