Eco-friendly ‘e-trikes’ plying in Boracay

BORACAY Island – The local government of Malay, Aklan is slowly introducing electric tricycles (e-trike) to replace its petrol-fuelled models, positioning the island as one of the areas which is at the forefront of green transport in the country.

The local government is bent on abolishing the operation of tricycles in the year 2015 and will be replaced b environment friendly e-trikes, said outgoing Malay Councilor Dante Pagsuguiron.

“We in Boracay has supported this program with the Department of Finance and the Department of Energy. In fact, last week, we have already distributed certificates of ownership to at least 100 tricycle operators in this resort island for the operation of e-trikes,” Pagsuguiron said.

Last year, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it would help the Philippines replace 100,000 petrol-fuelled tricycles with clean and energy-efficient e-trikes, providing US$300 million which is being implemented this year.

E-Trikes use lithium-ion batteries that can be recharged 2,000 times before being replaced.

“We expect the first batch which is 100 units of e-trikes will be delivered to those who received the certificates by August of this year. This is supported by the BPI Global and the Gerweiss Motors,” Pagsuguiron added.

Already, there are ten units of e-trikes operating around Boracay which is considered successful despite minor technical problems. It is expected that the next batch of e-trikes to be delivered were already improved.

“As far as the local government of Malay is concerned. We have been asking the Land Transportation Office to issue guidelines on e-trikes operation several times but they still fail to provide us with an official copy so the the local government will question them if they conduct inspection to the e-trikes issued by the local government,” said Pagsuguiron.

The distribution of certificate of ownership to the drivers for e-trikes is in line with the local government’s program on the national environment month.

Written by JUN A. AGUIRRE

Photo courtesy of Aerolineas.