By Victor V. Saulon
Sub-Editor
THE ELECTRIC Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) is working with the Department of Energy (DoE) to finalize a single charging protocol for the Philippines and to complete building infrastructure that will encourage the use of non-polluting modes of transportation, officials said.
“We try to evaluate all the international standards that would be adaptable to our set up,” EVAP President Edmund A. Araga said in a chance interview last week.
“Hindi kami naglalagay ng (We’re not putting a) timeline but we are asked to present even batches of standards [to the DoE],” he added.
Separately, Energy Assistant Secretary Leonido J. Pulido III said the target is to finalize the single charging protocol this year.
For now, owners of electric vehicles, including etrikes and ejeepneys, charge their units by plugging them to the usual electric outlets. Charging is time-consuming and the stored power sometimes lasts shorter than the time it took to charge the unit.
Others have went ahead with the establishment of fast-charging stations such as Unioil Petroleum Philippines, Inc., which launched in June 2018 a second unit at the northbound side of EDSA in Guadalupe, Makati City.
The move was meant to encourage more drivers to switch from their fuel-powered cars to electric vehicles. At that time, Unioil lamented that no one uses the charging stations.
On Nov. 27, 2017, Unioil became the first petroleum company in the Philippines to launch an EV charging facility at its fueling station along Congressional Ave. Extension in Quezon City.
Unioil’s EV charging station is equipped with the latest Chademo fast-charging protocol, which is compatible with most Japanese, US and European electric vehicles. It also has the competing protocol combined charging system, or CCS.
Mr. Pulido said the DoE would want to encourage a single charging protocol, although he declined to identify which one is being backed by the agency.
“It’s confidential for now kasi (because) we’re still discussing which one it will be,” he said.
He said the department wanted the adoption of a single protocol while the EV industry is at its “nascent” stage to allow stakeholders to adjust. He said a standard is “very logical” as was seen in other countries with a single protocol that had experienced a boost in EV growth.
“If you look at the history of electric vehicles, the growth of electric vehicles in other countries, it was only when that particular country decided on using a single protocol, a single charging framework, that is the only time that the sales of electric vehicles really shot up because it settles that age-old issue of standardization,” he said.
