EVAP teams up with DOE, car manufacturers, and partners for 1st electric vehicle eco-run

The Electric Vehicles Association of the Philippines (EVAP) has achieved yet another milestone as the country’s premier EV organization completes its first Eco-run.

Present was EVAP President Edmund Araga and Patrick Aquino representing the Department of Energy. Also in attendance were EVAP’s partners and various car manufacturers.

“As part of our advocacy in accelerating the switch to EV and its charging infrastructure, we need to act now by showcasing existing EV cars that we have in the market and its access in charging these units,” said Araga in an interview.

Meanwhile, Aquino commented, “we are hopeful, on the part of the government, we are very much committed to seeing more electric vehicles driving in this country. We are very appreciative of the efforts done by EVAP and its partners, for bringing the technology here. Even without the full government support. Hopefully, you can also be present in echoing our message to your congressmen, representatives, and senators, that we can finish the bi-cameral conference towards the end of the month so the bill will be passed and approved into law. We can expect that each sector, end users will get benefits and incentives to help accelerate this.”

The EVAP Eco-run started at 8 a.m. with the aforementioned participants arriving in electric vehicles. The groups were handed passports which they presented upon their arrival at each checkpoint where they log the time of their arrival and of course, take a photo at the EVAP event booth.

The group’s first stop was at Unioil in EDSA, Guadalupe. The station is equipped with a fast-charging bay for electric vehicles.

Next, they dropped by Jaguar Land Rover in Greenhills, EDSA, San Juan. Here, the group was welcomed by the Delta team, an EVAP partner and a leading manufacturer of UPS systems.

After which, the group then visited BYD, an automotive brand with its own line of EVs. BYD is located along Buendia and Dian.

The last stop for the North leg was Nissan Otis. The Japanese carmaker is known for its EVs, primarily the Nissan Leaf.

The group’s pitstop was at Ford Autohub in BGC. Here, the group surrendered their passports and reviewed the time they took to complete the routes. Pilipinas Autogroup Inc., one of the country’s leading auto dealers — including Ford Autohub — is also an EVAP partner. The automotive dealer is the distributor of Dong Feng vehicles in the Philippines, also a brand with its own line of EVs.

The north loop winners were soon announced. Alexis Alberi Prado Torio was named the runner-up while Patrick Aquino was hailed the north loop winner. On the other hand, Tom Tolibas from Nissan claimed the runner-up title while Christian Manuel David was given the winning title in the EVAP eco-run’s south loop.

“For those who don’t know the mechanics of what we did for the eco-run, we actually made a measurement of the distance of the total kilometers from the registration, and then we did a simulation of this last week for the time. That is why we specified an average speed, like for the north loop, the average speed is 40kph and you were supposed to finish it in 30 minutes. For the south loop the average speed is only 15kph. Then it will take you one hour and 15 minutes to complete,” said EVAP Chairman Emeritus Ferdi Raquelsantos.

Raquelsantos, who is also the President of EVOS, added, “the whole loop takes 45 minutes and the average speed is 30kph.”

Wallbox, another sponsor of the event is a brand that manufactures EV chargers was also present during the event.

To date, there are a total of 110 charging stations in the Philippines. With the help of the Department of Energy, the aim to promote, legalize, electric mobility in the Philippines and be able to support the ecology of electric vehicle owners in the Country, takes us one step closer to making this a reality.

Photos from EVAP

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