ToJo Motors, a local manufacturer of electric tricycles (e-trikes), is being eyed to produce e-trikes for export to South Asian countries, according to Alvin Lee, chairman of Chongqing Beidou Jiean Neo-Energy Technology Ltd., the technology partner of ToJo.
ToJo is one of the first electric public utility vehicle (PUV) manufacturers in the country. Established in 2013, ToJo has reached 65 percent local content.
“The challenge is to improve the quality and the technology for vehicles and to ramp up production to cope with increasing demand from local market,” Lee said.
BJDA has also provided technology to ToJo for charging stations.
“We have the ecosystem… from vehicles to charging stations. We also have solar battery storage systems that will minimize the use (of electricity) from the grid and save energy costs for e-trike PUV drivers,” Lee said.
Lee said while Chongqing is regarded as China’s capital for motorcycles and tricycles, the market in that country is a lot different.
“In China, all tricycles are designed for logistics but in the Philippines, they are designed for passengers,” Lee said, in explaining why BJDA eyes to export e-trikes from ToJo’s factory in Laguna.
“There is another market in South Asia… e-trikes (for passengers) are popular over there. We will work with ToJo for local production, share technology and export to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India,” Lee added.
Lee said e-trike demand locally remains huge.
He sad there is a lot of room to reduce cost per unit.
“The biggest problem is production scale. If the Philippines can produce 30,000 units a month, the cost of e-tricycle will dramatically go down,” said Lee. He also noted that since PUV is a very niche market, the government should set national standards on the technology used for e-trikes.
