FPH to launch electric bus service

MANILA, Philippines — Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) is launching electric bus service projects in various facilities within the group, starting in its Batangas site in the fourth quarter as part of its crusade against climate change.

Companies under FPH are introducing a hi-tech, zero-emission bus shuttle service project as part of a program for integration of more green technology and decarbonization efforts in their businesses and allied services.

Its engineering and construction subsidiary First Balfour, through unit Therma One Transport Corp. (TOTC), forged an agreement with GET-Philippines, the local arm of US-based Global Electric Transport Worldwide Inc. (GET), last Aug. 11 to initially acquire two new-generation COMET electric buses.

GET develops green transport solutions, like the COMET—or Community Optimized Managed Electric Transport—as its response to the climate problem.

“We have been integrating sustainability in our businesses and in how we operate. We have been looking at investing in electric vehicles for service vehicles for some time now. For us, this is the future,” TOTC president Anthony Fernandez said during the signing agreement.

TOTC also finalized a separate agreement with electric transformer maker First Philec Inc., another FPH subsidiary, for the use of the first COMET bus by First Philec employees in Lopez-controlled First Philippine Industrial Park, a 520-hectare special economic zone in Batangas.

“I personally believe that the greatest of all achievements starts with an agglomeration of small, meaningful, and truly insightful steps. This demonstrates that we are ready to forge collaborations and partnerships for a decarbonized and regenerative future,” First Philec president Ariel said.

“We hope this is just the beginning of a truly consistent set of activities in order for us to share the mission and the message to our employees, to the larger community, and to the whole country,” he said.

First Philec and TOTC tapped the services of GET-Philippines as their way of reinforcing support for FPH’s campaign against climate change.

With the plan to start in Batangas, TOTC plans to replicate the non-polluting transport project in other business sites and projects where the project will be suitable.

Scheduled for delivery in October, Fernandez said the 30-passenger COMET buses can travel up to 100 kilometers on a single charge. Each bus also comes equipped with wi-fi connection, a GPS or global position system device, and other amenities, including a contact-tracing app.

Fernandez said each COMET bus could displace an estimated 40,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) that the bus would otherwise spew to the atmosphere if it were to run on fossil fuel.

Studies have tagged the transport sector as a major emitter of CO2, a greenhouse gas whose massive and continued buildup in the atmosphere is being associated with climate change and destructive weather patterns, such as typhoons and floods. An overwhelming number of motor vehicles around the world run on gasoline or diesel – fossil fuels with high CO2 content.

A shift to the use of electric vehicles, which emit no CO2, has been identified as one solution to check the buildup of more greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

“Partnering with the Lopez Group, an organization renowned for its priority in the sustainable enterprise is a huge milestone. We expect that we will be together at the forefront of what we believe is a changing of the guard in the transport and sustainability sector,” GET-Philippines president Freddie Tinga said.