Manila Unveils Electric Passenger Bikes

Title: Philippines e-trikes

Reporter: Jason Strother

INTRO

The Philippines capital, Manila, has notoriously bad traffic
!nd all those cars, buses and "otorbikes ha#e taken their toll on the city$s air %uality
The &o#ern"ent there has e#en 'arned residents that breathin& in the air increase their
chance of &ettin& respiratory infections
One or&ani(ation is tryin& to cut )O* e"issions by takin& so"e of those #ehicles off the
roads and replacin& the" 'ith electrified "odels
Reporter Jason Strother has "ore

T+,T

S-,./street0sound of busy street, Jason hailin& trike00

So"eti"es to &et around Manila, you need to take a trike
J: )an you take "e to the 1atipunan 2RT station34 Engine noise00

They$re "otorcycles 'ith sidecars The dri#ers 'ea#e around the traffic and up onto
side'alks
Trikes are noisy and e"it a lot of e5haust too

//fade out SFX_street//

S-,*/etrike0sound fro" ridin& in the e trike00

6ut not !lfredo -orelo$s trike

00He says at : do you want to see the river?/

! fe' "onths a&o, the 78-year-old traded in his old one, for a ne', battery-po'ered e-trike
It holds up to ei&ht passen&ers and can hardly be heard
-orelo clip . 9Ta&alo&0Male: 9he tries to talk in English, ut its !ust one word answers"
On the old tricycles, he used to &et sick a lot, he says; like catchin& a cold, the flu or asth"a
6ut not any"ore The e-trikes are easier to dri#e and "ore co"fortable than the old ones
00-ade out00

!t the "o"ent, there are only around .< e-trikes out on the streets
6ut the !sia =e#elop"ent 6ank plans that in fi#e years there$ll be a fleet of .>>-thousand

Sohail ?asnie heads the !=6$s +-trike pro&ra" ?e says the ne' bikes$ benefits 'ill be felt
across the board

?asnie clip . 9Male, +n&lish:: @The Philippines &o#ern"ent spends close to 8 to .> billion
dollars on i"portin& oil as a net ener&y i"porter !nd of course there are a lot of inefficient
'ays these &et consu"ed by tricycle dri#ers 'ho do not really ha#e "uch of a choice in
ter"s of ne' technolo&y If you are a pedestrian, of course you like ridin& around in
so"ethin& that is safe, co"fortable and air if it is cleaner + trikes pro#ide all those solutions
in a sin&le &oal4

?asnie esti"ates that e-trikes 'ill offset "uch of the nearly A tons of )O* produced by &as
po'ered trikes in Manila each year

6ut 6eau 6acon&uis, Philippines pro&ra" "ana&er for Breenpeace, says e-trikes only
substitute tail pipes for s"oke stacks

6acon&uis clip . 9-e"ale, +n&lish: over #hone, ut $lear/0 @Chen you plu& these hundreds
of thousands of e-trikes, you 'ill be usin& up a lot of electricity that is #ery dependent ri&ht
no' on coal The en#iron"ental i"pact is not direct, in ter"s of e"issions the e"ission
there is co"in& fro" the coal plant 'hen you char&e your trikes4

Other en#iron"entalists say the e-trike$s lithiu" ion batteries are not as beneficial as they
"i&ht see"

Red )onstantino is director of the Institute for )li"ate and Sustainable )ities in Manila

)onstantino clip . 9+n&0Male:: @The proble" 'ith lithiu" ion batteries, they cost "ore and
#irtually (ero after sale ser#ice in the country If one sin&le cell breaks do'n, the 'hole
battery &oes kaput and there is no repair shop any'here for such batteries4

)onstantino says e#en thou&h lead batteries aren$t as en#iron"entally friendly as lithiu" ion,
there are at least recyclin& centers for the" in the Philippines
They$re the kind of batteries his or&ani(ation uses for their fleet of electric passen&er trucks,
kno'n as Deepneys

S-,7/Jeepney0sound of $hange going into hand of driver, !ee#ney #ulling off0

Outside a shoppin& "all in Manila$s Makati )ity, passen&ers cli"b into the back of these e-
Deepneys and pass chan&e up to the dri#er

)onstantino says these are a better alternati#e to the e-trikes, in ter"s of both the
en#iron"ent and safety

)onstantino clip * 9+n&0Male:: @The bi&&er the #ehicle, the "ore efficient it is in reducin&
e"issions and usin& less ener&y to ferry passen&ers fro" one place to another Tricycles are
s"all, they encoura&e door to door transport of people instead of allo'in& the" to 'alk The
proble" 'ith the !=6 e-trike pro&ra" is that it 'ill locate the tricycles hapha(ardly,
'here#er there is a de"and rather than reducin& the presence of tricycles, 'hich are also a
safety concern They are notorious for not follo'in& any traffic rules4

The !sia =e#elop"ent 6ank$s Sohail ?asnie concedes that his e-trikes still ha#e proble"s to
resol#e, like battery repair ser#ice
6ut as for e-Deepneys, he says they$re Dust too e5pensi#e ri&ht no'

?asnie clip * 9+n&0Male:: @Eou need a lar&er "otor, you need a lar&er battery, the costs keep
&oin& up and up4

!nd that$s a bi& proble", he says, because "ost dri#ers o'n their o'n #ehicles
?asnie adds e-trikes &i#e poor dri#ers, like !lfredo -orelo, a "ore affordable "eans to "ake
a li#in&

S-,A/Street*0sound fro% e trike, //

6ack on the road 'ith -orelo, he tells "e that he brin&s ho"e "ore "oney these days 'ith
his e-trike because he sa#es on &as ?e pays a "uch s"aller fee to char&e his battery

I ask hi" if he$d &o back to dri#in& a &as po'ered trike

//at :&' he says (o, not again/little hard to hear00

?e says no, not a&ain

-or !sia )allin&, I$" Jason Strother, Manila