BYD, China’s largest electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, is looking at producing EVs in the Philippines.
A source privy to the discussion said that BYD is currently scouting for a location of its planned assembly facilities in the country with the help of the Board of Investments. Another official source said that the BYD is looking at locating in an economic zone administered by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.
BYD is outpacing Tesla in sales, selling 1.62 million cars between January and November 2022 compared to Tesla’s 1.37 for all of 2022.
A BOI official said that BYD representatives were in the Philippines in the last quarter of 2022 to renew their interest on an EV assembly project. BYD first indicated its interest at the CIFIT event two year ago.
Meantime, the BOI has approved last year the registration of three other Chinese EV companies with local partners planning to put up 1,000 charging stations, assemble 10,000 passenger cars for lease and 10,000 units for Transportation Network Vehicle Service (TNVS).
These firms are Century Peak Energy Corp., Century Summit Carrier Inc., and Enovate Motors Corp. Century Peak has proposed to install and operate charging stations, while Century Summit will be engaged in the importation and operation of EV for public transport, and Enovate as new operator of EV for lease to government and private corporations.
The three projects are estimated to have a project cost of P25 billion and would be seeking approval with the Fiscal Incentives Review Board.
Executive Order No. 12 that removes tariff on imported e-vehicles and lowers tariff for e-vehicle parts and components for a five-year period is a welcome policy for the Chinese company.