Business World Online

TRICYCLE assembler KEA Industrial Corp. launched on Friday a commercial charging terminal for electric tricycles (E-Trikes) in Bacoor, Cavite, the country’s first.

Electric tricycles (E-Trikes) built by KEA Industrial Corporation.

KEA President Edgardo A. Araga said performance and durability tests have been completed for the company’s E-Trikes, which underwent commercial runs for more than nine months. The company is hoping to spur sales by providing the required support infrastructure.

“We hope that with the charging stations in place, more tricycle operators will soon shift to the environment-friendly, more economical E-Trikes,” he said in a statement.

Mr. Araga said in a news conference after the inauguration of the terminal that while this is the second charging station launched by the company, it is the first to go into commercial use.

The first station, launched in June, was donated to the local government as per the memorandum of agreement between the two parties.

Under the agreement, KEA will build five more charging stations in the coming year, two of which will be donated to  Bacoor City government.

The official added that company-operated E-Trike charge P5-P7 per ride, much lower than the current tricycle rates in the area. He said that around 60-75 people ride each of the ten units in operation.

Rommel T. Juan, President of the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP), in the same news conference invited local auto manufacturers to promote the use of green vehicles as an alternative to oil and gasoline-dependent products.

He said that the Industry expects one million electric vehicles to be in operation by 2020, with initiatives like the one launched by KEA and other cities like Makati with electric jeepneys gaining momentum.