The Philippines Wants 100,000 Electric Tuk Tuks on the Road by 2016

The largest power company in the Philippines wants to put 100,000 electric tuk-tuk utility vehicles on the road by 2016 – which sounds like a big number, until you realize there are nearly 3.5 million tuk tuks on Philippine roads today and that 100,000 number represents less than 3% of the overall total. So, maybe doable?

In a bid to help reduce the country’s financial burden to transition away from the highly-polluting 2-strok engines in most tuk tuks, the Asian Development Bank has earmarked more than 220 million Euros to the project. The money will be spent installing quick-charging stations for the electric trikes in major cities, with the hope being that more tuk tuk buyers will opt for an electric vehicle, like the one shown here (seemingly endorsed by Manilla Electric), if they already know they’ll be able to charge it up reliably.

While the electric tuk tuk (in this form) may not be an ideal replacement for the motorized rickshaw taxi tuk tuks, an electric motor would make hauling heavy loads and making intermittent daily deliveries easier, cheaper, and cleaner for thousands of Philippino businesses. Here’s hoping that 220 million Euro check clears!

  

Source | Photos: Motorpasion.

Tuk Tuk Factory Launches a 100% Electric Vending Van, the e-Tuk Vendo

PRESS RELEASE

On the 24th of April, the Dutch Company Tuk Factory launched a new vehicle, the e-Tuk Vendo. The e-Tuk Vendo is 100% electric vending van intended for mobile catering. The first customer, Toeti Froeti, will use the vehicle for selling fruit shakes and fruitcups.

The e-Tuk Vendo has an autonomy of 70 kilometers and can be charged during stopovers. The vehicle’s battery is large enough to keep the refrigerator cool while driving. Connecting the e-Tuk Vendo to the mains during a stopover powers the refrigerator as well as the other systems on board – water pumps etc. The Vendo’s right side offers 3 cubic meters of selling space, the rear side offers space for storage. Folding away the side panel creates a canopy, and a working table can be extended from the vehicle.

Tuk Tuk Factory already produced a fully electric e-Tuk Classico (seating 3 persons in the back) and an electric e-Tuk Limo (seating 6 persons in the back). “Making a move towards the e-Tuk Vendo and later Cargo is a small and logic step,” according to Roland Vos, director Tuk Tuk Factory. The incentive to start making these vehicles resulted from the numerous requests we received for vending vans with a fun factor. “We can see a substantial market emerging in the area of distribution and sales of biologic and sustainable foods. The go-local trend drives and accelerates this emerging market need. These initiatives find it important that their distribution and sales van is clean & green, it’s often a side condition in their marketing concept.”

Alexander Mascini, head of sales of Tuk Tuk Factory, says he receives “requests from every country on the globe for electric vending vans, even before the vehicle was launched or developed. The e-Tuk Vendo really gets noticed in the city.” Astrid van Vugt, founder of Toeti Froeti, says: “People react instantaneously and very positively, everybody turns their head, looks and smiles.”

Tuk Tuk Factory has a European type approval for these vehicles and several distributors in Europe. Tuk Tuk Factory expects to sell small quantities initially and to steadily grow the business to a few hundred units per year. De basic version of the e-Tuk Vendo is for sale from 24.000 euro, and the lead time is 3 to 4 months.