Lopez Group to roll out electric buses for Batangas park employees

The Lopez group has partnered with the Philippine subsidiary of US-based Global Electric Transport (GET) Worldwide Inc. for a planned electric bus service for workers at the First Philippine Industrial Park in Batangas.

According to First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH), the project will see the rollout of initially two units of the latest generation of GET’s Comet electric buses. Comet stands for Community Optimized Managed Electric Transport.

For this initiative, FPH’s engineering and construction subsidiary First Balfour, through Therma One Transport Corp. (TOTC), signed an agreement with GET-Philippines, which will supply the buses.

Scheduled for delivery in October, each of the buses can carry 30 passengers and move up to 100 kilometers on a single charge.

Each bus also comes equipped with Wi-Fi connection, a GPS or global position system device and other amenities, including a contact-tracing app.

Further, TOTC entered an agreement with electric transformer maker First Philec Inc.—also a FPH subsidiary—for the use of the first Comet bus by the latter’s employees that are based in the Lopez-controlled, 520-hectare special economic zone.

TOTC intends to replicate the project in other business sites and projects where it will be suitable.

“We have been integrating sustainability in our businesses and in how we operate. We have been looking at investing in electric vehicles for service vehicles for some time now and, for us, this is the future,” TOTC president Anthony Fernandez said in a statement.

Fernandez said each Comet bus can help avoid the emission of an estimated 40,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide, which one unit will emit into the atmosphere if it were to run on petroleum.

He said considering that the transport sector was a major emitter of carbon dioxide, which is responsible for the warming of the planet, a shift to the use of carbon-free electric vehicles has been identified as one solution to check the buildup of more greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

“This demonstrates that we are ready to forge collaborations and partnerships for a decarbonized and regenerative future,” First Philec president Ariel Ong said. INQ