4 foreign e-trike companies enter PH market

FOUR foreign-led companies offering electric vehicle (EV) products have set up shop in the Philippines to get a slice of the domestic tricycle target market comprising 1.2 million units of regular tricycles.

Rommel Juan, president of the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP), said the four were Singapore-based Clean Air Transport Solutions (CATS), Hong Kong-based Kyto Green Technologies, Kuwait-based PrimeGreen Power and Technology Inc. and Canadian-led SunEtrike.

Juan said these new foreign EV players must have realized that a target of just 10 percent of the market – or 120,000 regular tricycles for replacement by electric tricycles or e-trikes – would still be a substantial market over the next few years.

“Recognizing the potential of the domestic tricycle market, we have noticed that more and more foreign EV players are now entering the market, catalyzing our plan of becoming the EV hub of Asia,” Juan said.

Other foreign-led firms or foreign-affiliated EV firms operating in the Philippines include Bemac Electric Transportation Philippines Inc., a subsidiary of Uzushio Electric Co. of Japan, Taiwan’s TECO Electric & Machinery Co. Ltd., and CAMEC JCB Corp. (distributor of heavy equipment for JCB, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom.

The EV industry recently reached a milestone as Japanese-led Bemac passed a rigorous bidding process to clinch the deal to produce and deliver the first batch of 3,000 e-trikes under the joint project of the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to lessen the country’s dependence on import-based, pollution-causing fuel such as gasoline and diesel.

Singapore-based CATS, meanwhile, is headed by British national Robin Hughes, Juan said.

CATS not only introduced its three-wheeler ETrikes but also its four-wheeler models intended for e-jeepney and UV Express shuttle applications, Juan said.

Kyto, Juan said, was founded by Grayson Richards who originally came from the aerospace industry and then moved into automotive design.

Together with John Bennett, Kyto managing director who has a vast experience in the auto industry, they designed and developed a new e-trike specifically for the Philippine market.

PrimeGreen has facilities in Clark Industrial Zone in Pampanga, Juan said.

The company imports components from its sister company in China and then assembles its e-trikes in the Philippines.

Citing Wilson Varghese, PrimeGreen president and CEO, Juan said the company had different EV models to offer potential customers.

SunEtrike is run by Canada natives Clayton Gray and Phil Gray, Juan said. Their business model includes setting up dealerships selling complete ETrike systems, including a battery charging system that uses solar energy.
It is a complete sustainable energy loop that gets its energy from a clean source such as solar then uses it for clean transport such as e-trikes, Juan said.

The Philippines is home to over 3.5 million gasoline-fueled tricycles, a vehicle most commonly used as public transportation over short distances. Of that number, about 1.2 million units may be readily replaced with e-trikes, according to some estimates.