Electric Vehicle; A New Addition to Delivery Services

Electric vehicles (EVs)  are gaining traction here in the Philippines with the increasing price of gasoline and the dangers of climate change.

A Filipino-tech logistics company, Mober started in 2017 is going above and beyond to help reduce carbon emissions by using EVs for their delivery services.

In an interview with CNN Philippines, Founder, and CEO of Mober, Dennis Ng said 

“In the back of my mind, I would really like to fully utilize delivery van in Edsa. In any given time when you open a van in Edsa, you’d see na hindi sya puno. That was early 2017-2018. To consolidate all the deliveries into one van and make sure that the carbon footprint will be reduced ”

The company targets to obtain 100 electric vans and trucks by the year 2030 which is also our climate deadline to halve global emissions to prevent climate catastrophe according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Mober aims to secure 30 to 40 units in the next three years. 

Although EVs are seen as more cost-effective as they are powered by electricity, one unit of EV costs up to ₱1M to ₱2M which is double the price of a diesel-powered vehicle. Hopefully, its cost will decrease as manufacturers’ production volume increases.

Currently, the company has 3 units that are 100% EVs that can accommodate a 1,000kg load within a 250km radius.

Ng shared that they had partnered with E-sakay, but the game-changer was when Ikea Philippines opened last year because they tapped Mober as one of their transport service providers. As of now, Mober delivers from the store to the customer within Metro Manila.

The founder and CEO of Mober shared that there was anxiety in their first delivery service with Ikea as they worry about the capacity of the EVs’ battery. 

However, they became confident as their units showed good performance and did not consume up to 60% of the battery.

Ng is hoping to expand in more cities, unfortunately, there are areas wherein 6-wheelers are not allowed to go in and he is hoping for city governments and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to exempt EVs in their number coding.

Tax is also one of the challenges in making EVs more accessible.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is working on eliminating the tax on EV imports.  Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said in the “Kapihan sa Manila” forum back in March,

“One thing we are proposing is to adjust the tariff rate from 30% to zero”. 

The DTI proposes zero-tariff EV imports to support EV development. “

We need to promote EVs and the way to promote it, is to encourage their use. How will you encourage the use of EVs if they are expensive? This is one of the immediate ways that we think can be done,” added Lopez.

The proposition looks to give choices to consumers and urge them to try EVs rather than vehicles fueled by internal combustion, as well as to protect our environment.

As of today, Mober continues to utilize EVs despite the challenges and is offering same-day delivery through their app within Metro Manila with no plans yet for parcel delivery.

Source: CNN Philippines, Climate One, Business World, Manila Bulletin