Registered EVs in PH grew more than twofold in first semester

Newly registered electric vehicles (EVs) in the Philippines soared by more than twofold during the first half of the year compared to the full-year figure in 2022, with hybrid sports utility vehicles (SUVs) being the most registered vehicle segment during the six-month period.

Citing data from the Land Transportation Office (LTO), Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (Evap) President Edmund Araga told the Inquirer last week that 2,557 EV units were registered from January to June.

This marks a significant leap from the 1,072 units registered at the LTO during the entirety of the previous year.

Of the total, 516 are pure electric EVS while the remaining 2,041 units are hybrid ones.

SUVs also made up the bulk of these newly registered EVs, numbering 1,077 units in total during the period.

This is followed by utility vehicles at 766 units, cars at 502 units, motorcycles with 208 units and trucks with four units.

In 2022, electric motorcycles comprised the bulk of the EVs registered during that year with a total of 602 units.

To date, there are more than 16,000 EV units in the Philippines, according to statistics from the Evap, which is ramping up its effort to promote the use of this fairly new technology.

Earlier in August, Araga said they were still hoping that the government will implement a 15- to 30-percent sales rebate policy for buyers of EVs, reasoning that this will help bring down costs and entice more people to switch over to these more environment-friendly vehicles.

DOE advocacy

For its part, the Department of Energy (DOE) is pushing for the inclusion of two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles under the current five-year suspension of import duties for EVs, seeing it as a way to promote the shift from vehicles that are still using internal combustion engines.

“The value proposition from the DOE perspective is that during the same time window, we are looking at a bigger number in terms of legal registration to come from two and three wheelers,” Patrick Aquino, the director at the DOE’s Energy Resource Development Bureau said in August.

Back in January, Malacañang issued Executive Order No. 12 series of 2023, which suspended the import duty for EVS in the next five years to help mainstream its usage and support the industry.

Under the directive, import tariffs on EVS and some of their automotive parts were lowered or removed, coming from previous rates ranging from 5 percent to 30 percent.