The Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP), together with the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO), in partnership with the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE), is set to host the 9th Philippine Electric Vehicle Summit (PEVS) on August 26-27, 2021 as a virtual conference.
PEVS marks its eleventh year as the biggest annual conference focusing on promoting electric vehicles in the country. EVAP continues to work closely with government and industry stakeholders to catalyze a behavioural change towards a more sustainable future, through the modernization and electrification of public and private transport.
With the theme, “Accelerating the Switch to Electro-Mobility in the Philippines,” the two-day conference will serve as a unique and continuing platform for policy dialogue and exchange of knowledge, experiences, and best practices aimed at accelerating the adoption of electro-mobility in the local transport sector in support of the government’s drive towards a low carbon economy.
“This year, we are convening key stakeholders from the public and private sectors as well as the civil society to discuss policy issues and solutions in accelerating the adoption of electro- mobility in the country,” said EVAP President Edmund Araga.
“Accelerating the switch to electro-mobility can only take place with synergies of the government providing the enabling policy environment and infrastructure combined with the eager participation from the private sector in innovating electric vehicle technology solutions, facilitating technology transfer, and offering financing options. For its part, the civil society can help educate consumers about the benefits of e-mobility,” Araga added.
For EVAP, the transformation of the local transportation sector to electromobility is “very slow compared to our ASEAN neighbors like Thailand and Singapore.” Among the indications of this pace is the dismal modernization of public jeepneys into environmentally-friendly vehicles. As of June 2020, the Department of Transportation reported that only 18,000 jeepneys across the country have been modernized—out of over 200,000 registered public jeepneys.
Mr. Araga stated: “According to the latest Global EV Outlook of the International Energy Agency, there was a strong momentum in electric vehicle markets despite the pandemic. There were 10 million electric cars on the world’s roads at the end of 2020, following a decade of rapid growth. Electric car registrations increased by 41% in 2020, despite the pandemic-related worldwide downturn in car sales in which global car sales dropped 16%. Around 3 million electric cars were sold globally (a 4.6% sales share), and Europe overtook the People’s Republic of China (“China”) as the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) market for the first time.