Demonstration City:
Pasig
Inform
Knowledge products related to demonstration activities and e-mobility in general, including light electric vehicles, mixed-use vehicle, charging infrastructure, and vehicle integration, have been incorporated into the SOLUTIONSplus online toolbox and shared with the city. This has supported Pasig City in comprehending the technical, policy, and planning aspects of the e-mobility system. Moreover, Pasig has been capacitated on how to measure and assess the impact of their e-mobility programs and interventions. Through the impact assessment tool, Pasig City is equipped with the knowledge on what are the key monitoring indicators to measure, what data will be needed, and how to measure it through the diverse methodologies introduced in the toolbox.
Inspire
In 2021 and 2022, Pasig stakeholders actively participated in both Asian-regional and Pasig-specific training sessions on e-mobility. In May 2021, SOLUTIONSplus organized an online training focused on 'How e-mobility and integrated urban mobility planning can contribute to the SDGs in Asian cities.' The subsequent Asia Regional training (online) in October 2021 covered introductory knowledge about the electric mobility sector, prerequisites for planning the electric mobility ecosystem, and specialized topics on electric vehicle management, selecting and setting up charging infrastructure, and cross-cutting themes. Concurrently, the Pasig-specific training (online) in the same month delved into these topics while addressing the local context.
In December 2022, Pasig City hosted a 3-day training session on the role of Philippine cities in electric vehicle adoption and the planning of charging infrastructure. The event facilitated valuable knowledge exchange among the Pasig City Government and representatives from six other Philippine city governments, who shared insights into their respective e-mobility initiatives and experiences. Participants from various city offices—including transport, planning, environment, and council offices—engaged in discussions on addressing capacity and policy gaps to promote the widespread adoption of e-mobility in their respective cities. Another round of local (on-site) trainings were held in November 2023, wherein key staff were trained on the utilisation and proper maintenance of the vehicles, as well as on the IT sharing system. In December 2023, representatives of Pasig participated in a knowledge sharing event on e-mobility for Philippine local governments. The event was organised by Clean Air Asia together with the Department of Energy and the cities of Pasig, Manila, and Quezon. Pasig shared information on their e-mobility initiatives, including the SOLUTIONSplus activities.
Local city partners profited from peer-to-peer activities and exchanges with partners from Africa and Latin America, which included dedicated sessions focusing on the development and maintenance of e-bike sharing systems.
In 2024, Pasig has actively joined both as presenters and participants in various events with focus areas on low-emission zones, measurement-reporting-verification (MRV) systems, and e-mobility transition dialogue in the Philippines. In a roundtable discussion in February 2024 with other cities and national government agencies in the Philippines, Pasig shared its experience, challenges, and lessons learned in deploying and managing electric vehicles in their fleet including the SOLUTIONSplus pilot demonstration. In the exchange, Pasig highlighted the challenges in sustaining the efforts beyond the pilot phase, finding funding opportunities for scale-up, as well as having supportive policies for their transition to sustainable electrification. Meanwhile, Pasig was selected to participate in a regional exchange between Asian cities in a training on low-emission zones in Bangkok in April 2024. Pasig presented how their e-mobility programs such as the SOLUTIONSplus pilot has helped the Pasig Transport office strengthen their commitment to adopting sustainable mobility solutions and how it can make the case for developing a low emission zone in the city. The training also provided technical guidance to Pasig on how to design and build low emission zones within their jurisdiction, building on their existing green programs. More recently, in May 2024, Pasig also learned about the importance of MRV systems as part of the sustainability efforts in measuring the impacts of these e-mobility programs. This training, organized by Clean Air Asia, aimed at understanding the current capacities, gaps, and opportunities of city governments in collecting data and measuring the GHG impacts of their various policy interventions.
Initiate
The Pasig City demonstration received technical support and innovative technologies from Europe during the first round of matchmaking activities. Two units of the e-quadricycle prototype utilized second-life batteries from Betteries, a German start-up selected from the EU-Innovators call. As part of the matchmaking activities, PEM Motion provided expert technical advice to the local innovator in Pasig City, ToJo Motors, focusing on the Structural Assessment of Flexible Electric Vehicle (FLEV) Chassis. ToJo Motors has also established a partnership with Valeo, particularly in the context of the powertrains developed by the company.
On December 2022, the prototypes of the e-quadricycle were launched in Pasig City. These e-quads are expected to offer insights into the use of multi-purpose electric vehicles as replacement for the current ICE vehicles in the City Government’s fleet. This effort aligns with the objective of delivering sustainable urban mobility solutions to the City, especially given the requirement, under the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA) of 2022, for local government units in the Philippines to increase the share of electric vehicles in their fleets.
The official launch of the completed e-quads was held on November 20, 2023.
The IT sharing system is now being tested by the drivers of the Pasig city-owned electric vehicle fleet which includes the e-quadricycles and their existing e-tricycles. On-the-ground observations and feedback will be gathered after the trial run of the IT sharing system.
Implement
The e-quadricycle has a carrying capacity of 450 kilograms, or accommodates four passengers. It features a versatile chassis for multiple purposes, primarily serving Pasig City Government offices. The e-quadricycle prototype was launched in December 2022, and the completed and enhanced version in November 2023. Both events were attended by key decision-makers in the city, including the Mayor, Vice-Mayor, and representatives of the City Council.
The vehicles are earmarked for two principal uses: transport of health workers (passenger) and small medicines (goods) to different health centers and shared use amongst the various offices of Pasig. The demonstration action provides additional incentives for the integrated development of charging facilities, marking the next step in the evolution of Pasig’s mobility solutions.
Besides vehicle development, a dedicated sharing system app has been created with the assistance of LOCA, a ride-hailing app based in Laos. This app enables Pasig City offices to reserve and schedule vehicles for their operations. The app is being tested with various city offices, using Pasig City’s current vehicle fleet, including existing e-tricycles, in addition to the initially delivered SOLUTIONSplus e-quadricycles. Feedback from the trial run will be utilized to modify and customize the app according to Pasig City government’s operational needs.
Preliminary Results
Final Results
Impact
In the Philippines, the National Urban Mobility Programme, locally called the Philippine Urban Mobility Programme, or PUMP, concept document has been developed to operationalize the National Transport Policy. SOLUTIONSplus developed a paper to enhance the PUMP, further looking into unlocking urban mobility opportunities through electrification and taking into account the lessons learned from the pilot demonstration.
The ex-post assessment of the demonstration activity suggests that the e-quadcycle will be the financially preferable option (total cost of ownership) for public administrations, compared to the currently deployed ICE vehicles. Replacing ICE vehicles with the SOLUTIONsplus vehicle will also avoid emissions of CO2, NOx, PM2.5 and CO.
Replication
With the help of an extension attachment at the back of the e-quadricycle, the e-quad’s use-case potential as a transport vehicle for bicycles and e-scooters is currently being explored and tested. In partnership with Tipaklong (2024), a start-up company with a shared mobility system, a pilot is being tested to evaluate the performance and suitability of the e-quad to help balance bicycles and e-scooters within the campus of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), , one of the largest university campuses in the country. The shared mobility system that features the SOL+ equad (as a redistribution vehicle) was launched last June 1, 2024.
Scaling up of the e-quads using these vehicles in the pilot cities is being explored under the GEF-supported Philippines E-mobility ASAP (Acceleration and Scale up of the Adoption of E-mobility in the Philippines) project. As these vehicles are modular, they can be adapted to a range of use cases and local circumstances, and thus have great potential for replication.
Finally, the shared vehicle concept and booking app developed and tested under SOLUTIONSplus are in line with the requirements of the national 2022 Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act to increase the share of electric vehicles in public fleets, and can be replicated in other departments and municipalities.
Achievements in Pasig
The SOLUTIONSplus project in Pasig aimed to accelerate the transition to sustainable urban mobility through innovative electric mobility solutions. This involved creating Living Labs to test various electric mobility solutions, boosting capabilities of local authorities, fostering uptake of e-mobility innovations, strengthening policy and business collaboration, creating reference models for e-mobility innovation and contributing to global sustainability goals. Key achievements include:
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Local manufacturers developed Flexible Electric Vehicle and e-quadricycle prototypes, with the latter accommodating four passengers and having a carrying capacity of 450 kilograms.
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The e-quadricycle prototypes were launched in December 2022 and enhanced in November 2023.
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These vehicles are earmarked for mail and parcel delivery, shared use with the Pasig Public Market, and waste collection, contributing to the city’s sustainable mobility goals.
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Additionally, a dedicated booking app was created to schedule vehicle usage, with customization based on consultations with city offices.
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The e-quadricycles have potential for replication in other cities and are being explored for scaling up under the Philippines electric mobility ASAP project.
Shared Use of E-cargo Quadricycles
The demonstration in Pasig will focus on integrated and shared urban logistics solutions, as well as investigate the potential for public charging solutions. The activities on-the-ground will also include those that aim at improving the enabling conditions for e-mobility, and enhancing local capacities related to e-mobility.
Locally Developed/Assembled E-Cargo Quadricycles
Locally appropriate solutions addressing urban logistics are deemed to be quite important, as conventional vehicles that are currently being used are not particularly effective in conducing efficient movements considering the local conditions in the urban areas. The SOL+ demo will aim at producing and testing urban cargo quadricycles that are suited to the local conditions and can potentially transform how urban deliveries are done in the country.
These quadricycles combine the nimbleness of smaller vehicles and the carrying capacity of larger vehicles that are currently being used in conducting urban deliveries in Pasig (e.g. motorcycles, cargo tricycles, and mini vans). An example of a small L6 cargo quadricycle is provided on the picture on the right.
Potential Use Cases
The electric quadricycle vehicles to be developed will primarily be used for delivering parcels and letters within the City of Pasig. Other use cases will be explored as well, such as the shared use with the nearby public market, as well as waste collection.
A “shared vehicle use” concept will be investigated for feasibility in the Pasig pilot This concept would centre on the shared use system that would feature the use of the vehicles by PHLPost during the normal delivery hours of the day, and the conduct of last-mile deliveries for the Pasig City public market during the early hours of the morning (e.g. 3 am to 5 am). This concept is being explored as such shared usage would lead towards optimised total costs of ownership. This concept is also seen as a solution that can significantly alleviate urban congestion around public markets.
Flexible Electric Van
SOL+ will also be supporting a proposal being led by the De Lasalle University to a funding mechanism of the Department of Science and Technology to develop a “flexible electric van” (FLEV proposal) which features a chassis that can be used for multiple purposes (e.g. passenger/ cargo). Essentially, the vision is to make the FLEV also compatible for handling the cargo boxes to be used in the SOL+ quadricycles. SOL+ can provide a couple of units of the Valeo motors to the FLEV proposal. SOL+ (through the city equipment budget) can also purchase a unit of the FLEV for the use of PHLPost, which can replace one of their dilapidated minivans.
Trends and drivers
Overarching issues
The International Energy Agency (IEA, 2018) estimates that 103 million tons of Carbon dioxide (CO2) was emitted by fossil combustion-related activities in the Philippines. Thirty percent (30%) of the CO2e emissions was contributed by the transportation sector, with road transportation contributing 85% of the sector’s emissions (25% of the national total). Road transportation has also been implicated as the priority source of air pollutant emissions by the national air pollutant emissions inventory by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) which estimates that road vehicles emit 65% of the emissions load (DENR, 2017).
Vehicle motorization in the country has primarily been driven by motorcycle growth in the recent decade. Between 2004 and 2017, the registered vehicle fleet in the country has grown at an annual rate of 15%, with motorcycles growing at an astounding 18% per annum, with the total registered motorcycles tripling in size within the period – 1.8 million to 6.1 million (see Figure 2). Such growth can potentially be explained by increased access (driven by economic growth and availability of financial schemes that require low down payment) to motorcycles, and also perhaps due to the state of congestion in many of the major urban agglomerations in the country. Recent analyses have pointed to Metro Manila as having one of the worst congestion levels in the world, and Cebu being the worst place in the world to drive in (Waze, 2015; Numbeo, 2019).
E-mobility overview
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) registration data shows that the on-road electric vehicle fleet in the country is primarily dominated by electric tricycles (three-wheelers) and electric motorcycles (see Figure 3). Historical documentation of the growth in registered e-vehicles is not yet available as the rules regarding the registration of e-vehicles have varied over the years. LTO is yet to announce, for example, the adopted rules for registering e-motorcycles. These issues are related to the fact that the underlying national laws still pertain to vehicles as those having internal combustion engines. MMC et al.(forthcoming) has documented 15 models of e-jeepneys, 21 models of e-tricycles, 11 models of electric cars, and 61 models of other two to quadricycle models available in the Philippine market.
E-mobility has been slow in picking up in the country. In 2014, the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) forecasted that the e-vehicle fleet in the country would be at approximately 54,000. As seen in the registration figures, the actual registrations have been far off these projections. Multiple significant barriers (i.e. high acquisition costs, limited charging infrastructure, lack of social and technical familiarity, registration issues, lack of financial incentives) have contributed to such a slow uptake (MMC et al., forthcoming). There have been e-jeepney pilot projects in the past in several major cities (e.g. Makati, Pasig), as well as pilots involving e-tricycles. The most recent one, the ADB-DOE project, is discussed in Section 2.E. However, no significant levels of roll-out have been achieved to date.