As the transport sector had been severely battered with the scourge of the coronavirus pandemic and the electric vehicles (EV) journey of the country being hit in the process, the government and private sector industry players are anticipating at least two-year recovery pace before the sector could ricochet from its fleeting tumble.
“We look at it as a temporary thing and maybe give it two years - the recovery phase and then it will be picking up. And I hope with the discovery of the vaccine, then it becomes much quicker, so 1.5 to 2 years,” Trade Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba said during the virtual presser of the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) when asked on the prospective rebound of the sector.
Raymond B. Ravelo, vice president of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) asserted that despite the whip of the health crisis, the transport sector and the EV industry in particular must learn how to capitalize and see the opportunity out of such hapless situation.
“The transport sector in general has been badly hit by the pandemic,” he said, but on the other hand, this presents window of opportunity primarily on the “need for changes in infrastructure and technology for a better normal.”
The EV industry players admitted there are still myriad of challenges needing to be sorted to push EVs’ success on to commercial rollout in the Philippines – and these range from licensing of EVs, setting standards for charging infrastructure, passage of pending legislations that could then incentivize investments in the sector; as well as the need for consumer education so end-users’ anxieties over potential shift to EVs could be eased.
“Apart from the incentives, the program is a comprehensive one – it would cover very important elements such as the regulatory aspects, along with human resource developments; the need for R&D (research and development); and the need for us to link with the researchers at the academe,” Aldaba noted.
The trade official similarly raised that another vital component “is the communications strategy. And again this is crucial in terms of attracting more people towards the purchase, towards the adoption of these new products – the electric vehicles and they (consumers) need to understand why we are promoting these products.
Aldaba added “if they are really able to appreciate the importance of promoting this industry, I think there is going to be strong move towards this direction and increase in the market and a big push for the development of the industry.”
On charging infrastructure, Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary Leonido J. Pulido III indicated “we’re working with our partners in the government and the private sector in establishing more standards for charging and that’s an ongoing concern.”
He said there are two schools of thought they are seriously weighing on the development of charging infrastructure prototypes – whether a uniform standard could help the growth of the EV industry; or by limiting such, this may eventually hamstring investments or technology innovations and deployments in the sector.
On Meralco’s part, Ravelo said “our natural participation here would be in terms of propagating charging infrastructure. To that end, there’s a lot of talks particularly with the legislative branch of government to see what kind of framework we could put in place in order to propagate these charging stations – and that’s in coordination with the DoE and with the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) as well.”
Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary Mark Steven Pastor further noted that the licensing of EVs is also being addressed, and this will be guided by a Circular that the department will be releasing in due time.
Despite the pandemic-induced hurdles, EVAP President Edmund Araga said “EV prospects continue to be bright,” and he opined that it’s the pending EV legislations in Congress that prospective investors have been hankering for, so capital flow and technology innovations can be concretized in the nascent industry.
“How the current crisis affects the pace of the electric mobility shift in the longer term will hinge critically on the public policy response,” the EVAP president stressed.