MANILA, Philippines – With its grand vision of modernizing public transport in the country, the Department of Energy (DoE) is pushing for collaboration with other concerned agencies in setting standards for vehicles, including those which would be using alternative fuels.

Despite some failing experiments in other countries and many more which cannot move into commercial scale, the energy department clings on to vision that electric vehicles and the conversion of jeepneys to natural gas vehicles (NGVs) would become its trump card in solving the country’s pollution problem and to chip away from the vagaries of volatile oil prices.

“That’s why the DoST (Department of Science and Technology), DoTC (Department of Transportation and Communications) component is very critical to us. There will be new standards, new safety standards,” Energy Secretary Rene D. Almendras said.

The energy department labeled the newly-turned over 20 electric tricycles (e-tricycles) to the city of Mandaluyong as ˜green” public transport. But that claim can be debatable because the resource that will supply the country’s electricity needs may still come from fossil fuels (primarily oil and coal plants) during several years of transition, and that will include the needs of the e-vehicles being aligned by the DoE under its Fueling Sustainable Transport Program.

Mandaluyong has claimed of having the fourth electric charging system, although pilot projects for e-vehicles are teeming in various parts of the world, and China alone is heavy with electric vehicles; while South Korea has integrated it in its smart grid project.

The Philippine government will also need to prove the program’s viability on the commercial front. The pilot projects may still appear palatable because they are being dispensed on grants or funding from multilateral institutions like the Asian Development Bank, but when these will be tossed as complete responsibility for the transport operators and drivers, it is a big question if they can really shoulder the real heavy costs.

The fledgling experiment of other countries, however, is not about to wane the energy department’s plan. In fact, it has forethought of aligning the e-vehicle pilots to become the country’s gateway in developing its own cars that may eventually be exported to neighbors in the Southeast Asian region.

“DoE envisions that the promotion of e-tricycles will spur development of local capabilities to design and maintain small-sized electric cars. This in turn will entice private investors to set up local manufacturing facilities that will lead to the creation of more jobs and a dynamic market for locally assembled units for export to the ASEAN region in the future,” the department noted.

Electric buses are similarly envisioned to be plying metropolis thoroughfares, with the government through the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), providing the initial fleet of 10 buses.

For the jeepneys, the DoE’s plan would be to convert them as gas-powered vehicles or e-jeepneys. The conversion plan will also promote standardized design for the homegrown public utility vehicle.