GLOBAL Mobility Service Inc. (GMS), a venture firm providing mobility services, and its Japanese and Filipino partners are field testing a first-of-its-kind location-based system starting with electric vehicles (EV).
GMS Philippines Inc. president and CEO Tokushi Nakashima said in a briefing that the company partnered with PLDT Alpha Enterprise and Manila Electric Co. units MServ and Bayad Center to introduce GMS’ system for electric vehicles, backed by Fujitsu Ltd.’s cloud infrastructure, to the local market.
GMS VP Kazumasa Nakashima reached an agreement with the local government of Quezon City and the Tricycle Operators and Drivers Associations (Toda) for the large-scale deployment of electric vehicles equipped with this service.
MServe will help set up the charging stations while PLDT Alpha will provide connectivity infrastructure. Also, Bayad Center accepts installment payments for GMS use among EV drivers.
According to Tokushi Nakashima, GMS may be installed in electric vehicles as well as traditional vehicles—which is why the company is so bullish over its prospects in the Philippines.
The company plans to begin actual services in the second quarter of the calendar year.
GMS and technology partner Fujitsu conducted a trial run in Metro Manila from September 2014 through January 2015 using electric tricycles with proprietary sensing technologies and integrated communications systems, such as remote vehicle-control systems, fare-authentication systems and anti-theft systems.
Fujitsu will be working with GMS to connect their system to the Fujitsu Intelligent Society Solution SPATIOWL, for a field trial. It will begin to provide additional services in Metro Manila later this year.
The services will include a feature for estimating the available driving range based on the battery reserves and power-consumption profile, a service showing the routes to charging stations, and a service that plans routes to consume the least amount of power.
Following the trials, these functions will be added to the service that GMS will be launching in the second quarter, and will be fully operational in the Philippines in 2016.
This collaboration between GMS and Fujitsu will support more widespread use of electric tricycles in the country, improving the environment while providing added convenience for motorists.
The companies are also looking at providing the same services in other Southeast Asian countries and China as the market for electric vehicles is expected to expand.
The more than 3.5 million gasoline-powered tricycles in the Philippines are a fixture of the country’s everyday life.
But as the air pollution problem worsens, the Philippine government is moving to introduce 100,000 electric tricycles, which produce no exhaust gases.