MANILA, Philippines — The jeepney’s electric-powered version will soon be weaving through the streets of Bacolod City to pick up passengers.
A multisectoral group is importing two electric jeepneys (E-jeeps) from China this month in an effort to introduce a low-carbon but sustainable transport system in the city.
Once the E-jeep becomes viable, more of them will be shipped to Bacolod for commercial operations. Who knows, this may be replicated in other cities across the country.
But the E-jeep is just the icing on the cake. The real magic lies in the fact that the jeep will be running on electricity produced by a renewable energy power plant from the city’s market and household wastes.
Green Renewable Independent Power Producer Inc. (GRIPP) conceived of the 1-million euro (P61.88-million) project — the first in Southeast Asia — to further cement Negros Occidental’s move to go for clean energy five years ago.
GRIPP is the same network of civil society groups, business sector, local government units and green groups that led Negros’ campaign to foil the construction of coal plants in the province and stay clean.
Logical choice
The province gets its power mainly from geothermal energy. That’s why Bacolod is the most logical choice for the pilot-testing.
“The concept grew out of a desire to complete the clean energy campaign for Negros. We thought it fitting to complete that by adding a transport component,” Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros, founding member of GRIPP, said.
The idea, eventually, is to have a fleet of 50 E-jeeps plying the secondary routes, or those streets not covered by the 3,000 to 3,500 locally-made jeepneys.
After getting 300,000 euros (P18.56 million) for the entire fleet from the Dutch institution Doen, GRIPP ordered two E-jeeps worth 6,000 euros (P371,280) each from Langqing Electric Vehicle Co. Ltd. in Guangzhou.
It plans to run six E-jeeps for the initial tests from three to six months beginning July. Once it has a clear idea how well the operation runs, GRIPP will go into full commercial operations by July next year.
“Our dream is that in three to five years, they can increase the fleet from six to 50, and eventually, 100, so we can break 10 percent of the market,” said Ballesteros, also Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner. Greenpeace is part of GRIPP.
Doen is actually a partner in the project.
“The more commercially viable or successful the project is, the more the [Dutch group] will support it. In fact, [Doen] is even willing to support the replication of the project in other cities,” Ballesteros said.
Batteries, colorful designs
Unlike the metallic jeeps that rule urban cities’ roads, the E-jeeps are made of fiberglass, and can seat only 12, excluding the driver. They will carry batteries that will be charged for eight hours daily to give them power to cover 80 to 100 km.
But like the iconic jeepneys, they’ll be carrying colorful designs on their bodies.
As currently practiced, GRIPP will ask its drivers to remit a portion of their daily earnings as part of the “boundary,” the fixed amount that drivers remit to the jeepney owners out of their earnings at day’s end.
GRIPP will use the money to fund its own operations.
With no fuel and maintenance costs, drivers of E-jeeps are expected to bring home bigger incomes each day.
A jeepney driver earns an average of P1,856 daily. But after paying for the gas, and remitting the “boundary” to the operator, he ends up with a take-home pay of P247.52 a day.
“If the [E-jeep] driver remits a boundary of P804 to P990 a day to the foundation, and takes home the rest, then his earnings will be four times what he’s earning now. And he’s not that exhausted,” Ballesteros said.
The E-jeep drivers will charge the standard fare approved by land transportation officials.
Power plant
Beyond the E-jeep, the more crucial component of the project is the setting up of a power plant consisting of a generator, a high solid anaerobic digester, and gas engine on a piece of land to be provided by the city government.
Here, organic wastes collected by the city’s garbage trucks from restaurants and wet markets will be emptied into digesters, where they will be “solubilized” and converted into gas. The gas, in turn, will be fed into a gas engine that will produce the electricity.
“When we thought of the project it’s no secret we had the environment in mind. Climate change and solving air pollution are two of our primary concerns,” Ballesteros said.
“With this project, you can reduce both. If you have better, cleaner air for a city like Bacolod, you also reduce the waste and you have more savings in the city,” she said.
Savings which, Ballesteros said, could otherwise fund the city’s other priorities, such as infrastructure, education and governance.
GRIPP hopes to enter into a joint venture with another partner to set up and operate the power plant.
Charging station
Eventually, it has to establish a depot that will serve as a charging station and maintenance center, the project’s third component. But this can come later.
Meantime, the jeepneys’ batteries will be charged at a local utility. GRIPP wouldn’t mind if a city government copies the concept, or the manufacturer of the local jeepneys makes its own E-jeep.
“Our hope is to replicate it in other cities in the Philippines and in the rest of Asia,” Ballesteros said. “The goal here is to show that it works in a place like Bacolod.”
Tags: E-Jeep, Environment, Local Governments
