Bigger EV perks eyed this year
‘We are coming up with a cost-benefit analysis because we have to extend the incentives to hybrid, two-wheeled, and three-wheeled EVs’
Daily Tribune‘We are coming up with a cost-benefit analysis because we have to extend the incentives to hybrid, two-wheeled, and three-wheeled EVs’
Photograph by Maria Romero for the Daily Tribune Nissan ASEAN president Isao Sekiguchi speaks to journalists during a visit to the car maker’s global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.
TOKYO, Japan — To accelerate the shift towards cleaner transportation, the Departments of Energy, Trade and Industry, and the Tariff Commission are jointly implementing expanded incentives for a broader range of electric vehicles.
Speaking to reporters here, Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella disclosed that the friendlier zero tariff treatment should be extended even to hybrid, two-wheel, and three-wheel units.
“We are coming up with a cost-benefit analysis because we have to extend the incentives to hybrid, two-wheeled, and three-wheeled EVs. We have a Technical Working Group to present this to the Tariff Commission where the President presides,” Fuentebella said.
Meanwhile, DoE Energy Utilization Management Bureau Director Patrick Aquino said an Executive Order, or EO to govern the plan should be released within the year. Essentially, it will amend EO 12 signed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. last year.
EO 12 enforces the temporary modification of tariff rates on EVs, parts, and components, to boost the EV market in the country.
Under the order, the Most-Favored Nation tariff rates on completely built-up units of certain EVs such as passenger cars, buses, mini-busses, vans, trucks, motorcycles, tricycles, scooters, and bicycles would be temporarily reduced to zero for five years.
The EO, however, does not apply to hybrid EVs.
With the EO, the tariff rates on certain parts and components of EVs were lowered to one percent from five percent for five years.
“In terms of getting the actual issuance, the President exercises power when the Congress is not in session. We are looking at the Easter or Summer window.
“Hopefully, that will be in place within the year, but the publishing of the Executive Order needs both the Senate and House to be in session,” Aquino said.
The move, Patrick noted, aims not just to make these vehicles more accessible to Filipinos, but also to improve energy security by reducing the country’s dependence on imported fuel.
Set for growth
In a separate interview, Nissan ASEAN president Isao Sekiguchi affirmed that the Philippine EV market is one of the growing markets in the region that serves as an important market for the company.
“It is one of the growing markets and for Nissan, it is one of the strategic markets among the ASEAN region. We see that the market will continue to grow in the coming years. We see the Philippine EV market growing around five to 10 percent in the next several years,” Sekiguchi told reporters.
He also emphasized that the government regulators’ role in implementing supportive policies is vital to usher in the industry’s growth.
“(The government) should give incentives. If you have an old car with an old engine and you buy an EV, the government can partially support it — that is what the Hong Kong market is doing. Availability of infrastructure such as charging stations is important,” he said.
To recall, the DoE, under the Philippine Energy Plan 2020-2040, aims to have a 10 percent penetration rate of EVs for road transport by 2040.
