The e-Trikes program is a program of the Department of Energy, called (prepare for this) "Market Transformation through Introduction of Energy Efficient Electric Vehicles Project (e-Trikes)." For brevity, it is called the e-Trike Project.
The US$504-million (roughly, P21.672-billion) project was approved by the NEDA Board in 2012. The ADB Loan component was US$400 million, and an additional grant was US$5 million (for solar charging stations). The rest is from the Philippine Government's counterpart and the Clean Development Mechanism.
The goal of the project is to replace 100,00 traditional, gasoline-fed tricycles in the Philippines with electric tricycles to reduce carbon footprint of the transport sector. The DOE also says that with the efficiency of the e-Trikes, the e-Trike operator will earn more.
Upon observation, my friend said that, considering that the e-Trikes are more expensive, they should be larger (i.e., even larger than the one now, which is larger than the traditional ones) to accommodate more passengers and become more profitable for the drivers.
While I do not know the price of either the gas-fed tricycles and the e-Trike, I said that e-Trikes will take on the roles of tricycles, which serve shorter distances than jeepneys. E-Trikes will transport passengers to very specific destinations, like tricycles, as against jeepneys which drive in routes. Thus, e-Trikes cannot be larger than they are now, because making it bigger will make it energy-inefficient - the motor has to carry the heavier body (which would entail more energy consumption) without any passenger paying for it.
I also added that e-vehicles, in general, are more energy and cost-efficient than gas-fed vehicles because e-vehicles do not consume* energy during idle time. Electric vehicles also have nearly higher energy efficiency on any speed, compared against gas-fed vehicles which decrease with lower speeds. Also, even if some say that e-vehicles use electricity produced from fossil fueled power plants, the power plants are more efficient in converting fuel to electricity than individual vehicles converting fossil fuel to mechanical energy. This efficiency also means less carbon emission, if at all, as e-vehicles may have zero carbon emission if the power plant is RE-sourced.
Tesla, a renown electric vehicles manufacturer, even promotes use of solar power panels at home, so you can charge your e-vehicle and have ZERO carbon emission.
Regarding income for the drivers, this is what ADB says:
A conventional tricycle needs between 5 and 7 liters of gasoline to travel approximately 100 kilometers (km), costing 250 to 350 pesos. To travel the same 100 km, an e-trike will use between 3 kilowatt hours (kWh) and 5 kWh of electricity, costing only 30 to 50 pesos. The 200 peso difference in fuel savings will help the driver pay for the cost of the e-trike.
The e-Trikes Project (and e-vehicles in general) has many advantages and promises. While its proliferation would probably mean additional demand on power generation capacities, its long-term effect of efficiency and reduced carbon emission makes it a viable replacement to fossil-fueled, energy inefficient, greenhouse and acid rain-inducing gases emitting vehicles.
Just my thoughts.
For more info about the DOE's e-Trike project, go here.
NOTE:
*In physics, it is a basic law that matter and energy are neither created nor destroyed, only transformed. For the purpose of our conversation, we use "consume" to refer to the transformation of electric energy to mechanical energy.
DISCLAIMER:
The above, and all posts in this blog, is the author's best-effort attempt to understand and communicate the benefits of the project, and is not to be used as an official source of opinion or interpretation. The below sources are provided for that purpose.
Sources:
ADB, E-Trikes - Driving Change, accessed on July 8, 2014.
DOE Website, The E-Trike Project, accessed on July 8, 2014.
Philippine Gazette, NEDA Board approves e-trike and hydroelectric power plant uprating projects, accessed on July 8, 2014.
Wikipedia, Electric Vehicles, accessed on July 8, 2014.
Tesla Website, Top 5 Questions, accessed on July 8, 2014.
NEDA Board, "NEDA Board approves six projects in infrastructure, education & agriculture,"
accessed on July 8, 2014.
