"Philippines urged to try electric vehicles"

[ghosthunter]

Philippines urged to try electric vehicles
By Mike Frialde Home Updated March 07, 2012 03:53 PM 0 comment to this post

MANILA, Philippines – An official of the Transport for London (TfL) encouraged Filipinos to make use of electric vehicles saying it could help reduce air pollution and global warming.

Garrett Emmerson, TfL surface transport chief operating officer, said more electric vehicles on the road would mean lower carbon emissions.

Emmerson made the statement at the “Sustainable Transport in the Philippines: Strengthening Opportunities and Creating Partnerships for Electric Public Utility Vehicles” conference hosted by the British Embassy and the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (iCSC) at the Manila Polo Club.

Emmerson said there was a 40 percent decrease in London’s carbon emission level since 2008 when the city started fielding electric buses while encouraging motorists to drive electric powered vehicles.

According to Emmerson, there are now at least 2,500 electric powered cars and buses in London and some 25,000 hybrid (those that use a gasoline engine and an electric motor) vehicles.

“It is just a matter of incentivizing the technology and for the people to be ready to try it,” said Emmerson.

He said people can be encouraged by the government to swap their conventional gasoline or diesel powered cars to electric ones by offering incentives such as cheaper parking fees for electric vehicles.

“Our national government can have in place a number of incentives to subsidize the cost of purchasing new electric vehicles, which are more expensive than the equivalent petrol (gasoline) engine vehicles,” Emmerson said.

“It is about getting over the barrier to purchase, and also giving the people the confidence and the desire,” he added.

Emmerson added that London also installed the needed infrastructure to encourage motorists to drive electric vehicles, such as installing 1,300 public charging points (to charge their cars’ batteries) across the city.

Emmerson said a typical electric powered car could run for 10 miles or about 16 kilometers after just being charged for three hours.

Meanwhile, iCSC said an electric vehicle industry in the Philippines could also be feasible once more and more people start using electric powered vehicles.

"It will produce a ripple of jobs, social benefits and new revenue. The Philippines is ready for the electric vehicle industry revolution,” said May-i Fabros, iCSC spokesperson.

“We are promoting nothing less than a new investment agenda aimed at generating green jobs in services and manufacturing while producing margins that can secure more economic benefits for fleet operators, drivers and commuters alike,” added iCSC director Red Constantino.

Last February 27, Makati City re-launched 21 electric jeepneys (e-jeepneys) plying the Legaspi Village and Salcedo Village loops after the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) granted franchises for the units last February 8.

Makati City is the first city in the country to establish green routes for electric jeepneys. The first green route to ferry passengers for free was the Salcedo Village Loop located in the Central Business District. It was soon followed by the Legaspi Village Loop.

An e-jeep can accommodate 14 passengers excluding the driver. Prior to the granting of franchises, the e-jeepneys plying the Salcedo Village and the Legaspi Village routes ferried commuters for free.

According to the iCSC, the re-launch of Makati’s e-jeepneys shows the rest of the country that the shift to electric public transport is commercially viable to small operators and more beneficial and desirable for commuters.

SOURCE: Philippines urged to try electric vehicles » Nation » News | Philippine News | philstar.com

[ghosthunter]

London might be pushing electric vehicles but there are still lots of problems when people try it out for themselves as experienced by FIFTH GEAR and TOP GEAR when they drove electric vehicles in the UK to prove or disprove it's practicality with day-to-day life.

Note that London is also funding subsidized car prices, FREE city parking, FREE street-side charging ports, etc, exemption from the congestion charge, etc. to get people into electric and hybrid cars. Despite of all that, I don't think people are buying electric/hybrid cars in droves. One successful car is the Nissan Leaf, but the main part of it's success is it's affordability than anything else. (and you will still have to deal with range anxiety if you drive this car on a daily basis).

[uls]

It is just a matter of incentivizing the technology and for the people to be ready to try it,” said Emmerson.

He said people can be encouraged by the government to swap their conventional gasoline or diesel powered cars to electric ones by offering incentives such as cheaper parking fees for electric vehicles.

“Our national government can have in place a number of incentives to subsidize the cost of purchasing new electric vehicles, which are more expensive than the equivalent petrol (gasoline) engine vehicles,” Emmerson said.

“It is about getting over the barrier to purchase, and also giving the people the confidence and the desire,” he added.

ok... like the Phil. govt will pay half the purchase price of a plug-in Prius or a Nissan Leaf? that will be great

and you get parking fee discount anywhere basta you're driving an electric car?

and there will be charging stations everywhere?

wow

hey Phil. government, can you do that?

[ghosthunter]

FIFTH GEAR - MITSUBISHI iMIEV:


FIFTH GEAR - NISSAN LEAF:

note: it is mentioned that the car is subsidized by the government by L5,000.00 from SRP.

TOP GEAR UK - electric car test drives

note: electric charging stations NOT available everywhere...

[uls]

what a freaking waste of time waiting for the battery to charge

[userfriendly]

Ayos tapos nakitap sa poste ng Meralco for free electricity.
O kaya sa Mindanao na 4 hours ang power outage.

[niky]

The problem is that Filipino consumers aren't even as affluent as UK consumers.

The UK has higher salary rates and 100 peso per liter gasoline. If you give tax breaks on the Leaf, given the huge tax they have on gasoline cars there, you could sell scads of them.

Here? Even if you discount the Leaf, unless you put cash on the hood as they do in the US, it will cost over 2 million pesos.

People can barely afford houses costing 2 million pesos... to buy such a car would put you in the upper 1% of the population here.

Wonder how well the 1 million peso REVAi is selling?

[ghosthunter]

The problem is that Filipino consumers aren't even as affluent as UK consumers.

The UK has higher salary rates and 100 peso per liter gasoline. If you give tax breaks on the Leaf, given the huge tax they have on gasoline cars there, you could sell scads of them.

Here? Even if you discount the Leaf, unless you put cash on the hood as they do in the US, it will cost over 2 million pesos.

People can barely afford houses costing 2 million pesos... to buy such a car would put you in the upper 1% of the population here.

Wonder how well the 1 million peso REVAi is selling?

Maybe the British embassy can subsidize some electric cars for us? They are the ones urging the Filipino to try electric cars, right? So why not let them put down some british money to help push that idea along?

[niky]

Maybe the British embassy can subsidize some electric cars for us? They are the ones urging the Filipino to try electric cars, right? So why not let them put down some british money to help push that idea along?

Spare a copper, guv'? Right-o, much obliged!

[donbuggy]

Singapore Power undertakes study on electric cars - Channel NewsAsia

Singapore Power undertakes study on electric cars

By Dylan Loh | Posted: 01 March 2012 1748 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore Power is undertaking a one- to two-year study on the impact of electric vehicles on the national grid.

It is using three electric vans to simulate larger-scale adoption of eco-friendly transport.

Based on the findings, authorities will take steps to ensure the power supply can cope with thousands of such vehicles charging simultaneously.

With computer simulations, authorities are studying how vehicle-charging affects power supply and its reliability.

Singapore Power will use five charging stations to test the impact of electric vehicles. They are sited in places like Jurong, Kallang and Telok Blangah.

Hopefully, these vehicles will be as friendly to the national grid as they are to the wallet.

Smart Singaporeans.