A new bill in the Senate has been filed to amend the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA), providing additional incentives to EV ownership. These additional benefits are a bid to accelerate the adoption of electrified mobility in the country.
Current perks provided by EVIDA include full exemption from Metro Manila’s number coding scheme and priority LTO processing. Senate Bill No. 2270 seeks to add additional privileges such as parking fee discounts, toll-free EV-only expressway lanes, and a ‘buy now, register later’ scheme. The bill also extends the validity of these benefits from eight to 12 years.
The bill was filed by Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, himself the author and sponsor of EVIDA. Commenting on the bill, he said that “We need to break our economy’s dependence on foreign oil by accelerating the transport sector’s shift to EVs.”
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At the peak of the oil crisis earlier this year, gasoline and diesel more than doubled in price compared to pre-war values. The war in the Middle East also triggered a scramble for alternative oil vendors as Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz. Gatchalian believes that Senate Bill No. 2270’s proposed amendments can help patch the Philippines’ fuel vulnerability and mitigate future crises of similar nature.
Other benefits imposed by the bill include increased minimum allocations for EV-exclusive parking slots in public establishments, as well as zero percent import duties on electric vehicles and related equipment and infrastructure.
The Department of Energy previously identified permitting delays as a bottleneck in the rollout of EV charging infrastructure in the country—a claim supported by VinFast Philippines and Southeast Asia CEO Toti Zara.
