President Marcos Jr. yesterday ordered the Department of Energy (DOE) and all other concerned agencies to accelerate the implementation of action plans that will develop the electric vehicle (EV) industry in the Philippines, including the provision of support to the acquisition of EVs by commercial fleets like government or private company cars and public transportation.
The President, at the sectoral meeting yesterday in Malacanang, directed all concerned agencies to study the integration of the EV industry from local manufacturing of EVs to battery charging mechanisms.
Department of Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said that as of end 2023, only 0.001 percent or 7,000 electric vehicles are registered out of the 14.3 million registered vehicles in the country.
The Philippines aims to increase EV use to 2.45 million and put up around 65,000 EV charging stations by 2028.
The government also targets to increase EV use to 50 percent of the vehicles on the road by 2040 from just 10 percent.
Fuentebella said under the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA), DOE, Department of Transportation, Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Science and Technology are tasked to promote EVs and ensure compliance to the Comprehensive Roadmap for the EV Industry (CREVI).
CREVI provides the strategies and action plans to achieve the target include the demand generation, policy development, manufacturing development, human resource development, and research and development.
“The President also wants us to focus on achieving the numbers by looking at fleet or the group approach, looking at the consumer experience and identifying the lumps in financing,” he said.
He said Marcos wants DOE and other agencies to find ways to lower the cost of production, financing and charging infrastructure to ensure a seamless EV industry.
The transition to EV is in compliance with EVIDA which aims to accelerate the development and utilization of EVs towards improving energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
