February 4, 2019 | 12:01 am 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.
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