Senator Win Gatchalian has urged the Department of Energy and the Department of Public Works and Highways to expedite the crafting of policies on public charging stations to further boost the adoption of electric vehicle use in the country.

Gatchalian lamented that the biggest constraint in promoting EV adoption is the lack of charging stations.

"There's no shortage of brands and EVs in the country, but some people are hesitant because they have nowhere to charge the EVs so the biggest challenge is the lack of necessary infrastructure and policies," he said.

The senator pressed the need for the DoE and DPWH to implement various policies to also improve the adoption of EVs in the country.

Gatchalian said the DPWH must make revisions to the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the national building code and the green building code for the installation of charging stations.

The Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act or EVIDA, which was mainly authored by Gatchalian, was enacted to support the adoption of EVs in the Philippines.

But only 7 out of 19 issuances prescribed under the Comprehensive Roadmap for the Electric Vehicle Industry have so far been promulgated.

The remaining 12 issuances are still in process.

Under this roadmap, the government has set a conservative target for the country to have 850,100 EVs and 20,300 EV charging stations by 2040.

It was followed by a more ambitious target of more than 2 million EVs and 40,000 EVCS by 2040.

The CREVI was formulated following the enactment of the EVIDA.

Gatchalian said he is considering proposing a value-added tax refund mechanism, for those who will buy EVs.

"I'm thinking of a mechanism wherein we can refund VAT to those who will switch to EVs. In effect, that is a 12 percent subsidy to those who will buy EVs.It's a refund mechanism that we are playing around with," he said.

He added that providing subsidies for EV users "is a mechanism that some countries have resorted to so we can encourage the use of EVs in the country."

The importation tariffs and excise tax on EVs have already been suspended for 5 years—making the vehicles more affordable to local consumers.