- Tojo Motors Corp has received nearly 1,000 orders of EV units for public utility vehicle (PUV) modernisation.
- Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary said the government’s PUV Modernisation Programme will stimulate local assembly and manufacturing of EVs.
Tojo Motors Corp., a local electric vehicle (EV) “fabricator” in the Philippines, has received an order for close to 1,000 electric vehicle (EV) units for public utility vehicle (PUV) modernisation.
On the sidelines of the 12th Philippine Electric Vehicle Summit (PEVS) in Pasay City on October 24, 2024, Tojo Motors chief executive officer Ralph Legaspi said the company would need additional capital to boost its capacity to meet the growing demand driven by the government’s PUV Modernisation Programme.
Tojo Motors will deliver 576 units for the transport cooperative servicing the Makati-Manila area, 150 units for the Novaliches-Malinta route, 120 units for the Blumentritt-Baclaran route, and 120 units in the Calamba area.
Legaspi said that these orders are for Class 2 four-wheeler EVs, adding that its Laguna facility, which has 70 employees, can produce 150 EV units monthly. “We aim to deliver them within two years—maximum. We are always looking for funders to invest because our target is to produce more than 150 (units) per month,” the executive stated.
Tojo Motors makes the three-wheeled e-tricycles that plough the roads of Boracay Island. It has also deployed EVs in Naga and General Santos.
Also, the Undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Ceferino Rodolfo, said the government’s PUV Modernisation Programme will stimulate the local assembly and manufacturing of EVs.
“If we are to provide support under the PUV Modernisation, it should create jobs in the Philippines and not directed to imports. So we are finding and developing the manufacturing solution,” Rodolfo said in a Viber message.
“Recognising that we are the nascent stage of the industry, and the fast pace of technology advancement, partnerships with other companies who have the technology and are willing to support localisation is important,” he added.