BATTERY POWERED VEHICLES

BATTERY POWERED VEHICLES

I’ve long felt that “EV” — electric vehicle — is a misnomer. It sounds fine in popular usage, but when you stop to think, it conceals something important. What actually matters is the battery — the energy reservoir — not the fact that the vehicle happens to run on electricity. In fact, unless the car is tethered to a live power line while running (like an electric train), it’s not truly “electric” in the sense implied. We should instead call them Battery Powered Vehicles (BPVs).

This distinction may seem trivial, even pedantic. But in a country like the Philippines, it could shift how we frame our priorities. If we start with battery technology as the foundation, then motors, chassis, and all the other bits follow. But if we rush into the “electric car” — without having mastered battery design, storage, recycling, and energy sourcing — we risk building a fragile edifice on shaky ground.

Why “BPV” matters — more than semantics

  1. Clarifies technological priority.
     A BPV emphasizes energy storage — the battery — as the centerpiece. That matters because in battery design lie challenges of materials, lifespan, recycling, thermal management, and scale. If we accept “EV” uncritically, we may obsess over car bodies, speed, styling, and forget that the real innovation is the chemistry and engineering of batteries.

  2. Distinguishes among “electric” options.
     “Electric vehicle” can encompass hybrids (which still burn fuel), plug-in hybrids, even fuel cell vehicles. But BPV is specific: battery only. That clarity helps in planning policy, research, and investment for fully battery-electric systems.

  3. Encourages circular thinking.
     A battery is not a throwaway gadget. It must be designed for reuse, recycling, repurposing, and material recovery. If we build a BPV ecosystem (cars, e-bikes, scooters, micro-mobility) around modular, swappable battery packs, we can treat the battery as central rather than incidental.

  4. Signals the possibility of localized energy systems.
     BPVs invite thinking about distributed charging networks, community battery hubs, solar‐charging integration, local battery leasing or ownership models. The term primes us to explore modular, community-centric mobility in which energy and transport overlap.

The Philippine reality

Let us look at the ground beneath us. The Philippine automotive sector never really developed its own robust manufacturing for gasoline and diesel vehicles the way some other countries did. We imported engines, bodies, parts — it was always an assemblage game.

Now we have a rare chance to aim straight at BPVs. We can leapfrog over internal combustion and aim to develop battery ecosystems, energy storage, and local motor and chassis assembly from a cleaner platform.

But the path is not without obstacles.

  • In 2024, four-wheel electric vehicle sales in the Philippines reached 3,880 units, up from 1,028 in 2023 — a 277.5 % jump. Battery-electric vehicles accounted for about 75 % of that.

  • Still, hybrids and plug-ins remain part of the mix, showing that consumers are hedging. 


  • The Department of Energy and the government have extended zero-tariff import policies on EVs and parts until 2028 to spur industry growth.

  • But in the power sector, the challenge is steep. In 2024, only about 21 % of the Philippines’ electricity was generated from low-carbon sources; the rest relied heavily on fossil fuels.

  • Renewable energy remains underdeveloped: solar and wind combined contribute only a few percentage points to the grid.

  • The government’s Renewable Energy Roadmap (2020–2040) aims for 35 % renewables by 2030 and 50 % by 2040. 


  • In 2024, the Philippines added 794 MW of renewable capacity (solar, wind, hydro) — a record high for a single year. 

These data show two things: demand for battery vehicles is growing rapidly, but the electricity that powers them is still mostly fossil-based. If we shift to BPVs without cleaning our grid, then we only relocate emissions from tailpipe to power plant.

So, who leads the charge?

We need institutional champions. Is it the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), or the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)? Or a hybrid of both, together with the DOE and academic centers?

We should strongly support universities — e.g. DLSU, UP — to lead battery R&D, materials science, cell chemistry, thermal systems, and modular packing. Governments and the private sector can provide initial grants and incentives. Also, research into solar-charging integration is critical. Why build BPVs if the electricity itself comes from imported fossil fuels?

If every BPV is charged with coal- or gas-derived power, we haven’t moved the needle much on climate. The ideal is to pair BPVs with solar, wind, or distributed renewables so that mobility becomes a clean system in itself.

Specific suggestions

  1. Establish a national BPV roadmap — not just car adoption, but battery manufacturing, recycling, supply chain development.

  2. Fund university battery labs and pilot plants — let UP, DLSU, Ateneo lead regional battery tech hubs.

  3. Incentivize modular, swappable battery platforms — let communities and barangays lease battery pods, build charging hubs.

  4. Build solar + battery microgrid + charge stations in priority zones (campuses, urban barangays), so BPVs are charged cleanly.

  5. Design policies around circular economy — mining, reuse, recycling, end-of-life disposal.

  6. Measure emissions holistically — count grid emissions, lifecycle emissions, so we see real impact.

  7. Define leadership — DOST, DTI, DOE, CHED — assign clear jurisdiction.

Calling them Battery Powered Vehicles is not mere semantics. It forces us to attend to the heart of the system: the battery, how it’s made, how it's powered, how it's reused. In the Philippines, we have a chance to avoid the pitfalls of fossil-era auto manufacturing and leap into a cleaner mobility future — if we build batteries first, the vehicles come next.

But this will not happen passively. We need direction, funding, policy, coordination, and vision. The energy, academic, and industrial sectors must align around BPV as the core concept, not EV as a marketing buzzword. Only then will our shift to sustainable transport be genuine — not just superficial.

So I ask: who will lead us in this battery era? Are we ready to commit to building the foundations — battery chemistry, solar charging, local recyclers — before chasing the sexy drive toward wheels and motors? Let’s not build shiny shells on weak cores. Let’s start from the heart — the battery — and power forward.

Ramon Ike V. Seneres, www.facebook.com/ike.seneres

iseneres@yahoo.com, senseneres.blogspot.com

02-02-2026

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES?

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES? When we talk about the crime rate in the Philippines, we often assume that the figures we see are accurate reflections of reality. But have we ever paused to ask—how exactly is the crime rate computed? Where does this data come from, and how reliable is it? The computation of the crime rate in the Philippines is officially handled by the Philippine National Police (PNP). The formula itself is straightforward: Crime Rate = (Total Reported Crimes / Total Population) x 100,000 This simple equation gives us the number of crimes per 100,000 people, allowing for fair comparison across regions and time periods. However, the reality behind these numbers is more complex than it appears. Data from the Ground The foundation of our national crime rate is empirical data collected at the grassroots level—from individual police stations scattered across the country. Every reported crime is logged in local police blotters, forming the buil...
Read more

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS Dear Mr. President: May I ask who is going to be the arbiter or referee whenever there are overlaps in functions between two or more government agencies? I imagine that there would be no problem if these agencies would just cooperate and collaborate with each other, but what if they are unable to settle their differences and they would just end up throwing blame at each other or finger pointing at each other? Allow me to cite some examples. Who is supposed to take the lead in waste to energy projects? Is it supposed to be the DENR that is supposed to handle waste? Or is it supposed to be the DOE that is supposed to handle energy generation? Or is it supposed to be the DILG since it is the one that could direct or influence the waste to energy projects of LGUs? Who is supposed to take the lead in producing and promoting the use of biofuels? Is it supposed to be the DA, since the production of biofuels is supposed to be all about planting biofuel ...
Read more

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES As it is supposed to be, anyone in the Philippines should be able to dial 911, and a telephone operator should be able to dispatch fire, rescue, ambulance and police (FRAP) units as soon as possible, based on acceptable response times. I invented the FRAP acronym for easy recall, and I hope it sticks, if there is no other alternative. Unfortunately, due to a mixture of technical and political reasons, the Philippines has not adopted 911 as a national number, because some LGUs would rather use their own three-digit numbers such as 117 and 168. I actually proposed a technical solution to that problem, but it was not adopted either. For whatever it is worth, my solution is to install a call forwarding system that could route all calls to a central operator, regardless of what number is dialed. It is very sad for me to know that up to now, even if our country is already over one hundred years old, there are still many LGUs that do not have fire trucks. it ...
Read more