MANILA, 5 July 2007 — If tests go well, the Philippines’ “king of the road” known as “jeepneys” would soon become environment-friendly and a regional model.
Tests on the electric-powered minibuses began yesterday in Manila’s financial capital, Makati, and were welcomed with great enthusiasm by a public tired of heavy pollution in the national capital.
“If the project is successful, our hope is that the project will be replicated in other cities in the country and possibly other Asian capitals,” Athena Ronquillo, a Greenpeace energy campaigner and founder of the Green Renewable Independent Power Producer (GRIPP).
Makati Mayor Jejomay Binay, who was present at the launch of the passenger vehicles, said he believed that the project willd not only address the problem of pollution, but will also provide public transport drivers with cheaper fuel alternative.
Binay himself drove one of the two e-jeepneys being tested during the launching ceremonies.
Ronquillo said the e-jeepneys are expected not only to drastically reduce pollution but would also cost less to run.
According to GRIPP, an e-jeepney can run 140 kilometers after eight hours of battery charging at an estimated cost of only 120 pesos or $3, as against the regular jeepneys that guzzle at least 300 pesos ($6.5) of diesel a day.
Introduced after World War II, the usually brightly painted jeepney is the most ubiquitous passenger vehicle in the country.
The early jeepneys used to run on engines taken from US Army weapons carriers and later from knocked-down Japanese-made diesel trucks, which cause a lot of noise and air pollution.
Ronquillo said the iconic jeepney’s colorful design remains “but without wasteful and carbon emitting diesel, while providing increased incomes to the vehicles’ drivers.”
The 14-seater e-jeepneys were designed by Philippine renewable energy firm Solar Electric Company and the engines are made in China.
An e-jeepney costs 550,000 pesos ($11,982), has a 5-horsepower engine powered by batteries that can run up to 120 kilometers per day on a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour.
The two vehicles would be plying Makati in the next six months to test their viability.
“The pilot test in Makati is meant to ensure the technical, commercial, environmental and social feasibility of the project,” said Ronquillo. (With input from Agencies)
