While the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines or EVAP supports the City of Manila Mayor Isko Moreno’s drive to clean up and put order to Manila streets and the policy of DOTr (Department of Transportation) and DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) to ban all tricycles plying national roads, the organization feels that an all-out e-trike ban is not necessarily the solution.

For the EVAP, the problem doesn’t lie in the e-trike themselves, but in their roll out programs which were done with minimal consideration on its proper operation, creating disorder in the process.

If initiatives were properly planned out, such as the tourist e-trike services in Intramuros, it can promote new and more sustainable public transport solutions, and even support the tourism industry in the process.

To date, the Department of Energy (DOE) has also donated to date a total of 3,000 e-trikes to various LGUs all over the country, including 100 to the City of Manila, to promote energy efficiency and security.

E-trikes produces less than half of the greenhouse gases and have negligible health effects compared to those churned-out by conventional tricycles. E-trikes moreover, reduces the dependence on imported petroleum fuel, which reduces the energy security risk of the country. The simplicity of the electric vehicle technology also provides the local economy an opportunity to finally produce our own vehicles and possibly become a manufacturing hub of the technology in the region.

In consideration of its economic, environmental, and social benefits, the EVAP instead recommends not the ban of e-trikes in the City of Manila, but their re-organization instead. The organization is looking forward to work with the city government on how to maximize the proper and optimal use of e-trikes in the city. They shall also be working with LTO and DOTr in the preparation of appropriate guidelines on the classification, registration, and usage of electric vehicles in the country.