TUESDAY, 02 OCTOBER 2012, PAUL ANTHONY A. ISLA / REPORTER, Via Businessmirror.com.ph
President Aquino waves while onboard a protype e-trike unveiled recently by the Department of Energy and Asian Development Bank. Click on image for source
THE Department of Energy (DOE) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) recently unveiled for public inspection a prototype of the electric tricycle (e-trike) for the much-awaited $500-million e-trike project.
Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (Evap) President Rommel Juan said his group was among the first to view the prototype.
“Our next initiative will be to schedule a technical meeting with the DOE to discuss further the design, safety and functional elements of the e-trike. We also want to discuss with them our inputs on manufacturing concerns, mass production, localization efforts and clearing up the payment flow for the project,” he said.
Juan added that they would like to maintain an open communication line with the DOE, and that they are happy that they have been very receptive to the concerns of the would-be end users, suppliers, assemblers and other players in the e-trike industry. He said the e-trike mock up prototype was developed by a Japanese consultant, Itchiro Hatayama, based on the winning entry in an e-trike design competition that the DOE conducted a few months back.
Juan said the winning entry was enhanced considering the aspects of safety, functionality and production friendliness. Also taken into consideration were the terrain, passenger capacity and other local operating conditions of a tricycle.
An advertising space, he added, was even incorporated into the design for the operators to maximize revenues out of owning and operating an e-trike.
Juan said Evap fully supports the DOE’s e-trike project because it believes that this will be a shot-in-the-arm for the fledgling electric vehicle industry and catalyze its players to pursue and invest more in the domestic electric vehicle industry.
He added an e-trike industry is also expected to generate not only jobs and business opportunities, but will also provide the much-needed transfer of electric vehicle technology along the way. “We believe that this will soon give birth to bigger things and better products in the domestic electric vehicle industry,” he added.
Via http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/economy/33623-doe-adb-unveil-electric-tricycle-prototype-model-
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