The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through Board of Investment (BOI) will recommend an Electric Vehicle Incentive Strategy (EVIS) to the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) for approval
to ensure the creation of an enabling business environment for the country’s EV industry.
In a statement, DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual said the EVIS is similar to the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program which grants incentives for participants.
This package will be on top of the incentives available to the EV industry.
In his speech at the signing of a lease agreement for Envirotech Vehicles Inc. on Tuesday, Pascual said the Electricity Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA) Act provides fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to encourage the purchase and utilization of EVs by Filipino consumers.
Pascual said aside from tax incentives available under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act, importation of EVs are now duty-free under Executive Order No. 12, Series of 2023.
The tariff rate of EV passenger cars, buses, minibuses, vans, trucks, kick-scooters, and bicycles are reduced to zero for the next five years.
All these actions, Pascual said, complement DTI’s goal of encouraging EV investments by lowering its importation costs, introducing its viability to the public, encouraging shift to less oil-dependent transport options, and improving the country’s energy security.
Aside from EVIDA, another legislation passed to develop the local EV industry is the—Comprehensive Roadmap for the Electric Vehicle Industry.
EVIDA also requires the government to implement and allocate 5 percent of their fleet to EVs.
Pascual said the DTI also aims to aggressively position the Philippines in the battery segment of the global market given the presence of abundant nickel and cobalt reserves.
Envirotech Vehicles signed a lease with Bertaphil Inc. for its $80-million EV assembly plant in Clark.
