Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Electric Jeepney is LTO-licensed in the Philippines-a Start of the Green Movement


The Philippines Land Transportation Office (LTO) released the first-ever license plate for an electric vehicle to a locally-assembled electric jeepney.

The 14-passenger e-jeepney, manufactured by PhUV Inc. (the business arm of the Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines – MVPMAP), is now going through pilot testing on the Legaspi jeepney route in Makati City.

Some of the parts and components for the vehicle obviously had to be obtained from offshore international manufacturers (such as the motors from a China manufacturer), but the design, fabrication, and assembly were accomplished by PhUV, Inc. in the Philippines. A second e-jeepney is slated to be added to the Salcedo Village route in Makati City.

As part of the e-jeepney transportation system, the Green Renewable Independent Power Producer (GRIPP) organization (PhUV, Inc. and environmental group Green Pease are GRIPP members), funded in part by the Doen Foundation of the Netherlands and Green Peace, is in the process of creating a biodigester for generating electricity from biodegradable household wastes and a depot to store and serve as the charging station/terminal for the e-jeepneys.

PhUV, Inc. plans to add three body styles of the smaller electric tricycles (e-trikes) to their assembly lines to serve the transportation needs of the more rural areas of the Philippines. PhUV is making two demonstration "e-trikes" (a 5-seater and a cargo pickup). The vehicles can run at speeds of 40 kph and require 6 to 8 hours of charging.

PhUV stated that they plan to sell 200 units of the e-jeepneys during the next two years. Green Peace has ordered 44 of the units of which 26 will be delivered by the end of this year.

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