PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said the government must provide incentives to attract more investors into the country’s e-mobility industry.
Marcos pushed for enhanced initiatives to boost the e-mobility industry during a sectoral meeting with the officials of the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) and concerned agencies in Malacañang to discuss how to develop and sustain industry through science, technology and innovation.
“We need investors to come in. Of course, we’ll provide incentives from the government. That’s what we need to do. We need incentives for investors to come in. Hopefully local,” Marcos said.
“But we’ll take anybody who’s interested. But then they will have to undertake the production design to scale it up to a level to actually make a difference to the market,” he added.
The President said that design was not the problem in terms of the country’s e-mobility but the scaling of the industry.
“We’re always running into the same problem — it’s the scaling. Production design. Then the investment. How do we (attract investments)? That’s the hardest part of this. A high school science student can design an e-trike. There is no problem with that because again the technology is so simple, so well understood. But it’s the scaling,” he said.
Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. said that potential investors were waiting for a policy statement from the government.
Manufacturers and fabricators are also waiting for a government policy, Solidum said, stressing the e-mobility industry would create more jobs in maintenance, after-sales service, and other services.
The Department of Trade and Industry is creating a strategic roadmap under the Electric Vehicle Industry Development to formulate policies and come up with possible incentives to support e-vehicles.
Another initiative is working with locally owned ToJo Motors to figure out the necessary policies to make it conducive for locally manufactured e-vehicles (EVs), specifically e-trikes and e-jeepneys to operate in the Philippines.
In terms of production, Solidum told the President that e-trikes would soon be mass-produced in Isabela. Officials in General Santos City, along with tricycle operators, were also interested, Solidum said.
Local agri-machinery manufacturers could help speed up trike production, he added.
Solidum said the DoST pursued initiatives across the EV value chain, prioritizing local expertise and designs.
It was also implementing an e-mobility program map, which includes the conversion of conventional tricycles and buses into electric ones, Solidum said.
The DoST has developed a hybrid electric train and an electric boat, he added.
As of October 18, there were 25,196 registered EVs and 705 EV charging stations (EVCS) in the country, with 92 accredited EVCS providers.
Those providers generated 10,407 new jobs and some P1.99 billion in investments.
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