ADB Banks on electric tricycles in PH

by Dow Jones (Excerpt from Manila Bulletin)

The ADB electric tricycle driven alongside with Filipino customized trike. (thecityfix.com photo)

Sohail Hasnie, the principal energy specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, is almost as electrified as the vehicles he’s working to promote here.

In the coming weeks the development bank will help select a winner for a project that aims to put 100,000 electric tricycles on the streets of the Philippines in five years.

Aimed at improving energy-efficiency and reducing pollution in the developing Southeast Asian country, the project will replace scores of the ubiquitous motorized tricycles that are one of the Philippines’ most common forms of public transport.

The ADB kicked off the project in April 2011, when it turned over 20 e-trikes to the city of Mandaluyong, where its headquarters is located.

The e-trikes, powered by lithium-ion batteries, are three-wheeled vehicles that look similar to the “tuk-tuk,” Thailand’s popular auto rickshaw.

Mr. Hasnie said the pilot testing in Mandaluyong City was not without problems.

“We had to learn the hard way,” he said. “When we started this program there was no inventory of spare parts, no after sales service and not enough technical experts.”

Since the first e-trikes rolled out nearly three years ago, however, several foreign and local companies have set up shops to build electric vehicles. And Mr. Hasnie believes the interest is just beginning.

“The Philippines is at the forefront of energy-efficiency initiatives,” he said.

Five years ago Mr. Hasnie participated in a project to provide 13 million energy-saving lights to households and businesses in the Philippines to help cut fuel costs. He hopes the successful use of electric vehicles will have a similar impact.

The e-vehicles are aimed at not only reducing pollution in the country, but also cutting back hefty energy bills, he explained.

At current prices, the e-trikes are twice as expensive as their gasoline-fueled counterparts, which doesn’t make them much of a reality. But the government and the ADB, which are providing loans for the vehicles, are hopeful that mass production will eventually bring down prices down.