The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has launched the Electric Vehicle Incentives Scheme (EVIS) that aims to accelerate the development of the e-vehicle industry.
At the 11th Philippine Electric Vehicle Summit in Pasay City on Friday, Oct. 20, DTI undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba said the EVIS targets to have four million locally manufactured e-vehicles in the country in the next 10 years.
Majority of the target locally produced units will be two-wheelers, e-trikes, e-PUV (public utility vehicle), and eBus, she added.
Under the EVIS, the country is eyeing e-PUVs and two-wheelers as its niche in Southeast Asia, in which the Philippines could be a competitive exporter in the region.
“There are two types of support that we’re going to provide. We are directing the support not only on the supply side, but as well as on the demand side,” Aldaba said.
“One important component of the EVIS is the e-PUV Program, the focus of which is on the commercial EV market. This is going to be a CARS (Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy)-like program catering to the manufacturing of commercial vehicles, and this is going to complement the CARS program,” she added.
The e-PUV Program under the EVIS aims to build the country’s manufacturing capacity for a flagship commercial vehicle model, which is the e-PUV, as well as to develop the local capabilities in the manufacturing of light truck platforms and social purpose vehicles that can cater to the domestic and export markets. These include UV Express vehicles and other PUVs, trucks, and buses.
Under the CARS Program, the government provides fiscal incentives to participating carmaker for their investments in the local production of the vehicle and tax perks for every locally assembled unit sold.
Under the EVIS’ e-PUV+ Program, which include perks for passenger cars, mining and processing of green metals for EV, auto-electronics, and charging infrastructure, the government can provide fiscal incentives under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises law.
For e-vehicle battery manufacturers, Aldaba said the DTI is eyeing to provide support amounting to 50 percent of the capital expenditure, excluding land, but with a cap.
The e-PUV+ Program also provides incentives to e-vehicle buyers.
Aldaba said DTI is looking into providing discount vouchers of P500,000 per unit for e-PUVs, P10,000 per unit for e-bikes and P20,000 per unit for three-wheelers.
“The purpose is to narrow the cost gap between EVs and the traditional motor vehicles. And this is important that we are providing these incentives to facilitate and to accelerate the shift of the traditional model vehicle industry to EVs,” Aldaba said.
Aldaba said also the DTI is eyeing economic zones solely for EV manufacturing, including parts and components.
Aldaba said having ecozones and industrial parks that can host all manufacturing activities related to the e-vehicle sector will cut the logistics cost and could make e-vehicle prices compete with internal combustion engine vehicles.
“It is good to have one cluster within an ecozone… We can highlight that we have this EV cluster in the country,” she said in an interview with reporters.
The trade official added that the agency will be coordinating with investment promotion agencies that manages ecozones, like the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), among others.
Companies are more encouraged to locate their projects within ecozones, like PEZA, as they provide one-stop-shop service to investors, which eases doing business in the country.
Ecozone locators receive fiscal and non-fiscal incentives under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises law, depending on their activities and impact of their projects to the economy.
“Incentives could provide an attraction for us to encourage more developers and manufacturers in the country,” Aldaba said. — Kris Crismundo (PNA)
