The government is urged 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.
This was raised by Dennis Ng, president and CEO of the country’s largest EV delivery fleet – Mober Inc., at the 2nd Mober World EV Day Forum Philippines – Leading the Way in Green Logistics.
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 Development Authority 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.
