Electric Cars

Could you also share how they will handle car registration and such with LTO? Do they need special permits?

 

Hello RDY! From third hand accounts, I heard you could register electric vehicles now and there is a different kind of license plate which is provided. The IONIQ is a hybrid so cars of this nature is a regular registration. Disclaimer: I have not done it myself so take everything with a grain of salt.

Oh and just a fun fact I saw on olx, A tesla model s being sold for 6 million pesos.

 

More like e-scooters is the way to go for us here. They're maneuverable and easy to negotiate in traffic. No brakes though, just fast, and very fast on the handle gear. Tried them in NYC and after two huge falls, I got the hang of it. But they actually don't last that long and you have to bring them to their charging station before they die down or it'll be a pain to carry them to the next station.

 

Yup, beginning to notice the increased presence of e-scooters here in Makati. Some e-scooters have the rated range of 80km at eco-mode (not sure what the speed is at that mode). For safety sake, one shouldn't go beyond 20-25 kph & use motorcycle helmets instead of bike helmets. Another concern is where to park & secure an e-scooter.

 

Mm...yeah..encountered escooter in Makati yesterday. Not in favor of escooters plying the streets. IMO, it is dangerous to use specially at night. Madaling masagasaan. Should be banned or limited for use in designated bike lanes where they properly belong. What’s next? Roller blades?

 

Even bikes are now electric and they compete with e-scooters and e-blades on the bike lane. They should change that to Electric Thingies Lane only.

 

IMO, Electric Bikes and PMDs (Personal Mobility Device) are different.

If you bought your toddler a nice electric car, is a license required? Can it be only used on proper roads? How about Sr. Citizens using Electric Wheelchairs.

Where and how to use a electric vehicle should depend on the weight and speed. (e.g.) If the electric vehicle is more than 60kgs and can run more than 40km/h, then a driver's license and LTO registration is required. Anything slower and lighter should NOT be allowed to use public roads, they can only be used in sidewalks.

As for hope that local officials figure these things out... Good luck with that

 

Mm...not road-worthy, which is why Singapore banned escooters. They are not designed for use in roads for cars and buses. Road hazard. It is simple. Just ban them outright.

Imo, escooters are the same as kuligligs. An unregulated road nuisance. Also, not fit to be used in pedestrian sidewalks. We have narrow sidewalks with pedestrians. Add thousands of these escooters on sidewalks and you have accidents waiting to happen.

The escooter I encountered was along the busy, busy Buendia.

 

Also not economically viable as it breaks before they break even on rental income. As per Vox Youtube (average 29 days). They need to rent it out for about 45 days to break even on unit cost. This is quoted as continued use.

 

They say BGC might declare a weekend as E-Scooter/E-Bike Day along BHS, but that's wishful thinking...

 

I regularly encounter these e-scooters in BGC, and Mckinley. I drive to and from BGC (house) and Makati (office) and I see it a hazard especially at night. Most don't wear helmets and at best bike helmets. Some have blinkers on their backs but i've encountered one at night where he didn't have a helmet, didn't have blinkers, and a dim red light at the bottom of the e-scooter and it was the portion of mckinley at the bend of the road after the manila polo club gate in the direction of going to BGC. That part sometimes is dark or very dim and i shudder at the thought of a car driving really fast and sideswiping them and also on the fact that it was going fast at more than 40kph and any sizeable pothole / road imperfection can lead to an accident.

BGC sidewalks pwede, but it still poses to pedestrians and even to the riders themselves.

 

Ebikes is a start. I saw from a fb post on the government distributing etrikes in the Quezon City area ( with assistance from the adb). I had an impression that it was being given away. I won’t be surprised to see more on the roads.

On a longer term view, every year the improvements in electric vehicles have been more than just small increments. Take into account the Nissan Leaf at first we’re just a hundred or so km then a year or two later they are now at 250km on a single charge. Here is an article on the amazing km per charge on a Tesla
https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/29/17405906/tesla-model-3-hypermilling-driving-record

In a few years, improvements in battery technology and a single charge could result to thousands of km. Hence, a non ev car compared to a ev car would be similar to comparing a film camera to a digital camera, and we all know what happened to the film camera

 

interesting move by India... Although it's still in the planning stage. (At least they're thinking about it)

India wants scooter, motorbike manufacturers to go electric by 2025 | France 24

 

The Nissan Leaf will arrive in out shores in 2020 and though pricing has yet to be determined, it will benefit a unique provision in the tax reform law, that is, being a fully electric vehicle, it’s 100% exempted from excise taxes.

Besides, it will take some time before industry consortiums build charging stations for electric vehicles, preferentially in Clark, Subic and Roxas Boulevard areas.

 

when will the exemption start? BYD's e6 is still at 4M

Technically as long as you can charge at home over night, then you won't need to recharge at the middle of the day.

Let's see how the Leaf get's priced locally...

 

Nissan Phils puts it at roughly 2M for entry level models.

 

Mm..too expensive, ha ha ha..

 

Here is the perfect car for EDSA. A solar car. Just don’t drive it at night.

 

yup... I've been running my personal numbers. If I buy the TOTL Civic (1.6M)
400K worth of petrol for my daily commute is good for 4 years (coding days not calculated)

Only big difference will be the necessary oil changes/tune up... (also not calculated is the additional cost of electricity)

Although, if LTO allows coding exemption for full electric cars (I believe this is done in Beijing), then you can expect to see me at a Nissan dealership once the Leaf is available