Teco to put up e-jeepney chassis facility in Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Teco Electric and Machinery Co., Ltd. of Taiwan is set to invest P300 million for the manufacture of chassis for electric jeepneys this year as it is in talks for a joint venture with local firm Philippine Utility Vehicle Inc. (PhUV).

Teco special assistant for business development Jay Huang said in an interview the firm intends to manufacture rolling chassis for e-jeepneys at its facility in Subic in Zambales.

“We are looking at maybe 200 to 300 units per month because we need to deliver a thousand within one year,” he said, citing orders received from a jeepney operator here.

“We are going to build the rolling chassis without body in Subic and then we give chassis to PhUV and then they will build the jeepney,” he said.

Teco and PhUV have partnered to bid for the first batch of supply of e-trikes under a project of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Department of Energy (DOE).

The ADB and DOE project involves the replacement of 100,000 tricycles running on gasoline with energy efficient e-trikes.

The e-trikes will be rolled out to local government units nationwide.

PhUV president Ferdinand Raquelsantos told reporters his firm is currently in talks with TECO for a joint venture for the manufacture of other electric vehicles such as jeepneys.

 â€œHopefully, in the next month or so, we would be able to finalize the joint venture,” he said.

Huang said production at the TECO’s facility in Subic may start in September.

At present, TECO imports parts supplied to the local market from China and Taiwan.

After serving the local market, Raquelsantos said the plan is to ship electric vehicles to other countries. 

“Our main goal is to export after we serve the local market.  Once you get the market, have the facility running, it is easy to export,” he said.