By Victoria “NIKE” De Dios
As the demand for electric mobility adaptation continues across the world, the Philippines has already followed the suit by embracing the need for sustainable mobility. While there are already a few numbers increased in the usage of electric vehicles and motorcycles in the country, the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP), together with the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO), in partnership with the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE), is set to bolster awareness about the value of taking an alternative choice.
Through the 9th Philippine Electric Vehicle Summit (PEVS) on August 26-27, 2021 as a virtual conference, the public will understand what are the pros and cons of the electrification of public and private transport.
Offhand, our too much dependence on fuel inevitably posits oil price hikes as the law of supply and demand applies. But EV provides alternative choices and at the same time would stabilize the price of fuel when the cost and benefits of EV are established.
With the theme, “Accelerating the Switch to Electro-Mobility in the Philippines,” the two-day conference will serve as a unique and continuing platform for policy dialogue and exchange of knowledge, experiences, and best practices aimed at accelerating the adoption of electro-mobility in the local transport sector in support of the government’s drive towards a low carbon economy.
“This year, we are convening key stakeholders from the public and private sectors as well as the civil society to discuss policy issues and solutions in accelerating the adoption of electro-mobility in the country,” said EVAP President Edmund Araga.
Speeding up the switch
“Accelerating the switch to electro-mobility can only take place with synergies of the government providing the enabling policy environment and infrastructure combined with the eager participation from the private sector in innovating electric vehicle technology solutions, facilitating technology transfer, and offering financing options. For its part, the civil society can help educate consumers about the benefits of e-mobility,” Araga added.
For EVAP, the transformation of the local transportation sector to electromobility is “very slow compared to our ASEAN neighbors like Thailand and Singapore.” Among the indications of this pace is the dismal modernization of public jeepneys into environmentally-friendly vehicles. As of June 2020, the Department of Transportation reported that only 18,000 jeepneys across the country have been modernized—out of over 200,000 registered public jeepneys.
Mr. Araga stated: “According to the latest Global EV Outlook of the International Energy Agency, there was a strong momentum in electric vehicle markets despite the pandemic. There were 10 million electric cars on the world’s roads at the end of 2020, following a decade of rapid growth. Electric car registrations increased by 41% in 2020, despite the pandemic-related worldwide downturn in car sales in which global car sales dropped 16%. Around 3 million electric cars were sold globally (a 4.6% sales share), and Europe overtook the People’s Republic of China (“China”) as the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) market for the first time.
The resilience of EV sales in the face of the pandemic were due to the following:
- Supportive regulatory frameworks even before the pandemic many countries were strengthening key policies such as CO2 emissions standards and zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandates. By the end of 2020, more than 20 countries had announced bans on the sales of conventional cars or mandated all new sales to be ZEVs.
- Additional incentives to safeguard EV sales from the economic downturn: some European countries increased their purchase incentives and China delayed the phase-out of its subsidy scheme.
- The number of EV models expanded and battery cost continued to fall.”
“We need to step up our efforts to achieve our goals for rapid EV deployment and to do this, government and private sector need to collectively reaffirm their commitment to do so,” Araga said.
Highlights of the summit
Thus, among the highlights of the 9th PEVS will be the symbolic signing of stakeholder Memorandum of Understanding, to accelerate the switch to electro-mobility by 2025. This highly-anticipated activity will involve representatives from key government agencies, the academe, civil society, and EVAP reaffirming their commitment to accelerate the transition to sustainable transport.
Day One of the summit will focus on policy dialogues about technologies and solutions while Day Two will tackle the state of industry and market development.
This upcoming summit marks the second year PEVS will be staged through the Zoom platform after its successful initial online staging in the previous year. The first online edition of the summit had set a record for having the most number of government leaders participating in discussions about electrified mobility in the new normal.
The 9th PEVS will be co-presented by Phillip Morris Philippines, Nissan Motors Philippines, and Mitsubishi Motors Philippines. The Department of Energy will also have a special participation in the conference.
To register to the 9th Philippine Electric Vehicle Summit, visit: www.evap.com.ph