MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DoE) is targeting tricycles as the first mode of transportation that could run on electricity. “We need to find more efficient transport mechanism. That’s why we’re working with a group that’s going to encourage electric versions for mode of transportations, like those for tricycles,” Energy Secretary Rene D. Almendras said.

The introduction of electric mobility, he said, will be to help bring down the cost of the transport sector especially with the fresh round of volatilities in global oil prices.

“We start with the tricycles because they are the most efficient that we have right now. The two-stroke engine is not very efficient plus the pollution it causes,” Almendras has noted.

Almendras said the coverage would be expanded in due time to other modes of transportation. To reduce the cost of electric tricycles, the government plans to enable the fabrication of electric tricycles domestically and the only component to be imported will be the lithium-ion batteries.

“We’re working on trying to bring down the cost. Interested groups said  they studied the possibility of fabricating the tricycles here so the only thing we need to buy abroad would be the lithium battery and the motor,” the energy secretary said.

It was noted that switching batteries for charging can be very fast, comparable or will even take less time as compared to filling in a petroleum tank. When it comes to the battery sourcing, Almendras emphasized that the country will have to look at the cheapest possible source – be it China or other suppliers.

Experiments with electric cars are such a vogue in Europe that most of the automakers in that part of the world are already showcasing their respective models of electric vehicles. To scale them into mass production though still pose some hurdles.

It has also been culled that when it comes to electric mobility, the biggest challenge remains with the battery – from having an efficient charging system to bids of further bringing down their costs.