The Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) said it is wise if the government, at this early, will already craft a policy banning the importation of secondhand electric vehicles (EVs) into the country.
EVAP President Edmund Araga said banning the entry of used EVs will protect the consumers from safety issues, first and foremost.
“At present, we don’t have testing facilities that can address issues on evaluating such second hand cars that has no supporting documents that such units have passed necessary testing,” Araga said.
Banning used EV importation also aligns with the Comprehensive Roadmap for the Electric Vehicle Industry (CREVI) program, which is mandated by the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act to promote EVs in the country. CREVI acts as a long-term guide for the Philippines to transition to electric mobility, reducing its environmental impact while fostering a robust and competitive national EV industry.
Likewise, EVAP Chairman Emeritus Ferdinand Raquelsantos supports such a policy. “We denounce any move to import second hand EV’s. This is the same position we did back in 2004 when we opposed importation of used vehicles,” he added.
Earlier, Dennis Ng, president and CEO of the country’s largest EV delivery fleet, Mober Inc., was the first to call on government to ban the importation of used electric vehicles (EVs) given the difficulty in disposing toxic batteries and to avoid a repeat of the importation of used trucks and buses that only made the country a mere dumping ground of old units causing pollution in the country.
Ng raised this concern as he himself had received offers from China to import second hand EVs. According to Ng, the battery of remaining battery life of the second hand EVs battery is only good for one year.
“We don’t know yet where and how to dispose the EV batteries, which have toxic chemicals,” he said.
“Disposition of EV batteries is difficult, it is toxic. So, I hope the government will listen,” he said.
Ng said he is also preparing a letter addressed to Sen. Win Gatchalian, committee chairman on energy and author of the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act law.
Ng further recalled a previous government policy allowing the importation of old buses and trucks to augment transportation needs in the country. That policy resulted in the country becoming a dumpsite of old technologies and highly polluting buses.
