Senate urges DOE to craft roadmap for electric vehicles

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate committee on energy is tasking the Department of Energy (DOE) to craft a roadmap for electric vehicles (EVs) to spur the adoption of cleaner transport in the country.

The committee chaired by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has proposed legislation for a national energy policy and regulatory framework for the use of electric and hybrid vehicles, and the establishment of electronic charging stations.

Under Senate Bill 2137 or “Electric Vehicles and Charging Stations Act of 2018,” the DOE will be the lead agency to implement the law.

“The utilities and charging stations are important in the EV system. If you talk about charging stations, you need to have grid stability, grid flexibility. Most of the system are energy-related. That’s why we made DOE as the lead agency,” Gatchalian said.

The agency is also directed to create the EV roadmap, as this is seen as a critical part of the EV adoption since it lays down where the country is headed in terms of EVs.

“Definitely, (creating a roadmap) will take time, but at least I want them to start moving. We will mandate them to submit to us timetables and deliverables based on the timetables,” Gatchalian said.

The lawmaker said the EV industry is a rising industry with a lot of countries moving into adopting the cleaner transport  units.

However, the Philippines needs to prepare the infrastructure, regulation and policy first before the EV industry booms.

Once that is set up, adoption will come in,” Gatchalian said.

The proposed law will require the distribution utilities to incorporate a “charging infrastructure development plan” in the government’s power development plan.

It will also require private and public buildings and establishments to have dedicated parking slots with charging stations.

Apart from this, it mandates open access for the installation of charging stations in gasoline stations.

Charging stations should be installed in establishments with dedicated parking slots for e-vehicles which may be open for a fee while gasoline stations will also be made to designate dedicated spaces for charging stations.