The government is enthusiastically eyeing to massively shift gears into electric mobility by mid-century, but the road ahead for the Philippine transport sector is still navigating wobbly terrains on some policies as well as speed bumps on infrastructure development and supply chains, primarily those on charging facilities and batteries.

These were primarily acknowledged by Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla in his  keynote message at the 11th Philippine Electric Vehicle Summit, as he asserted that  “our collective EV (electric vehicle) journey will have its challenges.”

He primarily cited that “there are barriers to EV adoption such as high acquisition costs, inadequate EV infrastructure and lack of technical support.”

As the buildout of EV charging stations is still on catch-up mode in the country, ‘range anxiety’ torments prospective EV buyers because with the seeming infrastructure lack, there is no guarantee that their vehicle could run from one charging point to the next.

In other countries, consumers patronizing EVs can also avail of incentives and enticing rebates, but these perks are frustratingly not available yet for would-be EV owners in the Philippines.

And in the case of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Lotilla similarly indicated apparent struggle that they would need to wade through to keep pace with the transition of adopting cleaner technologies for their business fleets.

“I am particularly concerned about how we can help our micro and small and medium enterprises, which are involved at every stage to adjust to this transition period,” he stressed.

Lotilla is pinning hopes though on the successful drive of Southeast Asian neighbors and other countries in the world on the rollout of EVs in their respective markets.

“With strong government policy and financial incentives, EVs are now becoming more mainstream across the globe over internal combustion engine cars. In Southeast Asia, Thailand dominates the EV volumes, which accounts for 58 percent of the region's EV sales, followed by Indonesia and Vietnam,” he conveyed.

The energy secretary narrated that there is already semblance of growth when it comes to EV adoption in the Philippines, but there is more to be accomplished to get to the 50-percent level of electric fleets that the Marcos administration is envisioning until 2050.

Concretizing that goal, according to Lotilla, will bear massive benefits for the country – foremost of which will be cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 1.9 million tons, a noble target to preserve the environment for the next generation.

The mid-century electric mobility ambition of the government, he said, will warrant the rollout of more than 100,000 charging charging stations network that shall be powered by renewable energy; and the upside to that will be creation of estimated 40,000 jobs for EV manufacturing and technology support.

“These shall be achieved through various initiatives such as a phased approach to improve EV utilization, promotion of EV manufacturing, EV research and development, human resource development and improving relevant policies and credit programs,” he noted.