The Energy Department has committed to roll out 3,000 units of electric tricycles within the year as it finalizes changes in the loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank.
Energy Department director Patrick Aquino said the agency planned to come out with amendments to the ADB loan to finance the electric tricycle program, which was scaled down to P1.73 billion from the original project cost of P21.672 billion.
“We’ve rebranded it, it’s now the tricycle modernization program to align it with the overall transport modernization program of government. We are already in the advanced stages for the amendment of the loan agreement,” Aquino said.
The ADB loan, which sought to roll out 100,000 e-trikes, falls under the agency’s
Market Transformation through Introduction of Energy-Efficient Electric Vehicles Project.
“Major change (in the ADB loan agreement) is to open it up to other channels for distribution. We’ve come out with a business model wherein we separated physical unit from the charging infra and the battery, which we feel is a viable model for duplication and sustainability,” the official said.
He said the Finance and Energy departments and the ADB planned to have the amendments in place before the end of July and complete rollout of units within the year.
“The (local government unit) guarantee, we’ve worked to have a language that softens it to be more in line with what you’re seeing in the PUJ modernization program of the (Department of Transportation) wherein we offer low financing, no cash out, no down payment,” Aquino said.
He said the department also strengthened or highlighted the vehicle useful life program component and continued push for solar charging station.
“ADB, DOE and DoF’s committed to have this in place by the end of July,” he said.
Energy Assistant Secretary Leonido Pulido III earlier said despite the many challenges faced by the project from previous administrations, the department would move to showcase the potential use of clean and diversified energy technologies through the e-trike.
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has moved to partially cancel the loan contract last year as the department wanted to revisit all options available because of significant flaws in the project’s design, including the choice of just one model and pricing concerns.