By Myrna M. Velasco
Industry players advocating for mass scale rollout of electric vehicles (EVs) in the country have been batting for exemption from value added tax (VAT) as well as ad valorem taxes as these are the set of incentives seen positioning EVs to be competitive vis-à-vis the traditional cars or vehicles.
The Senate committee on energy that deliberated on the proposed Electric Vehicles and Charging Station Act said the proposed tax exemptions have been incorporated in the committee report that will be the basis for further deliberations on the measure.
As emphasized, EVs and even plug-in hybrids will not be able to compete in the marketplace without extending them viable incentives because their prices per se are way higher than the conventional cars or vehicles – and that dampens any appetite for end-users to take a shift.
As crunched, if the targeted shift to EVs will be achieved efficiently, this will reduce by about 146.56 million barrels the oil consumption of the country annually.
And the overall petro-dollar savings, according to the Senate energy committee, will be as massive as $9.8 billion or ₱490 billion per year.
Under the propounded law principally authored by Senate Commit¬tee on Energy Chairman Sherwin T. Gatchalian, it was prescribed that private as well as public buildings and establishments shall designate “dedicated parking slots with charging stations.”