Companies who service electric vehicles in Southeast Asia are finding support from the government in many cases. The massive air pollution problems in much of the region are the impetus for the support. The latest news on the electric vehicle front in the region is a transition from gasoline-powered tricycles to electric tricycles via Global Mobility Service, Inc. (GMS), a venture company providing mobility services, and Fujitsu Limited. Fujitsu and GMS have partnered to bring a three-wheeled taxi to the Republic of the Philippines for field testing.
An electric tricycle in the Philippines.
According to the news release from Global Mobility Service:
GMS has already conducted a trial in Metro Manila that ran from September 2014 through January 2015 using electric tricycles with proprietary sensing technologies and ICT, such as remote vehicle-control systems, fare-authentication systems, and anti-theft systems. The company plans to begin actual services the second quarter of the calendar year.
One of the problems is that a large portion of tricycle operators in the Philippines have low incomes. They can’t pass a credit check or think of buying an electric tricycle to use for income as a taxi. GMS intends to move the issue forward by lending vehicles — thus, avoiding credit checks for the low-income taxi operators in the Philippines.
Global Mobility Service continues that, due to a Mobility-Cloud Connecting System developed byGMS, remote control of the vehicle ensures reciprocation without credit. If the vehicle’s user falls short of fee payments, the vehicle is remotely disabled. Furthermore, GMS can track a vehicle’s current location. The trial already took place in Metro Manila, the capital area of the Philippines. Continuing, the news release states:
Fujitsu will be working with GMS to connect their system to the FUJITSU Intelligent Society Solution SPATIOWL (*2), for a field trial of additional services in Metro Manila that will begin in late 2015. These services will include a feature for estimating the available driving range based on the battery reserves and power-consumption profile, a service showing the routes to charging stations, and a service that plans routes to consume the least amount of power. Following the trials, these functions will be added to the service that GMS is launching in the second quarter, and will be put into operation in the Philippines in fiscal 2016.
In other green news from the Philippines, CleanTechnica’s Sandy Dechert recently shared an interesting article about the relatively new ‘Eco’ Pope and his visit to the Philippines.
Digging a bit further back, other companies have been working to get their electric three-wheeled taxis (aka tuk-tuks) into the country. TheEcotukBCN and theZbee are some of the ones we’ve covered. These streamlined electric conveniences appear as fun as their names, as well as being planet friendly. Read more in “Electric Tuk-Tuk Ready For Philippines.”
Related Stories:
Japanese Design Studio Creates Dynamic Urban Three-Wheeler
Yamaha Patents A Leaning Electric Trike
Image by Global Mobility Service
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