For decades, the dirty diesel-burning jeepney has been the colorful face of public transportation in the Philippines. That may by about to change, with the introduction of the COMET (City Optimized Managed Electric Transport): a new approach to the traditional system, based around an eighteen-passenger electric vehicle.
Boracay is certainly a long way from Indiana. But business is business, and EnerDel has found some on that island in the Philippines. And, to quote the hip-hop lexicon, there's some three-wheeled motion to boot.
We've seen the new Fit in Mugen trim, and we've seen the Vezel crossover that shares its platform in Mugen trim too. But those aren't the only vehicles Honda is selling around the world based on that
From electric Jeepneys and electric tuk-tuks to a coconut oil-fueled bamboo taxi, the Philippines are no stranger to renewable energy vehicles. The pace of change could increase significan
The Toyota GT 86 has been one of the brand's video stars this year, gobbling up millions of frames as it makes friends in each new land. The story is no different in the Philippines, where a troupe of GT 86 coupes starred in a precision driving and drifting display at an airfield.
Bamboo Taxi - click above image for high-res gallery
Bamboo Taxi - Click above for a high-res image gallery
Conspiracy theorists will need to take a back seat for this story, as Petron, the largest oil refining and marketing company in the Philippines, recently held a "race" called the Sprint 4T Endurance and Economy Run of 2009. This was the first year the event took place, and it was designed to pit two-wheelers with four-stroke engines against each other to finish a course within a prescribed time limit. Best of all, the winners were determined not just by what order they finished in but by how lit
Energtek, which we remember from their ANG (Adsorbed Natural Gas) projects, has announced that they can successfully convert a two-stroke engine to use natural gas. The converted vehicle, a Yamaha RS100T motorcycle with a locally-produced sidecar, was converted to burn natural ga
Using a body of carbon fiber, Kevlar and epoxy swathed over a honeycomb core, the Sinag solar car, a first for the Philippines, is set to enter the 20th World Solar Challenge in Australia in October. The three-wheeled vehicle converts energy from the sun into electricity using 400 solar cells, silicon-based, which are capable of sending 2000 watts to a pack of lithium polymer batteries and in turn to the electric motor driving the rear wheel. Like other solar racers, the car seats one person and
The price of palm oil, which has gained favour over the last few years as a cheap biodiesel feedstock, is soaring. Another relatively new use of palm oil is as a trans-fat substitute for use in processed food. But the oil palm, grown mainly in Malaysia and Indonesia, is not well liked - it has been blamed for rainforest destruction, the death of orang-utans, air pollution and exploitation of workers.
It seems that the biofuels industry continues to expand with the news this week that Brunei National Petroleum Co. is looking to partner with the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) to build a biodiesel plant in the Philippines. Recently at an Asean Council on Petroleum meeting in Indonesia, PNOC officials revealed that they have received expressions of interest from several possible investors to pursue biofuels development.
While rapeseed/canola continues to be the main biodiesel feedstock in Europe, and soy dominates U.S. biodiesel production, a host of other plants are moving biodiesel forward in other parts of the world. In the Philippines, the Biofuel Act is about to pass into law mandating the immediate use of one percent biodiesel, increasing to two percent after two years. The numbers seem small but it has prompted a massive in-surge of investment in biodiesel production capacity with Chemrez Technologies pl
I'm looking forward to a new editorial template, one that doesn't just praise the promise of biofuels and wish for more amazing green cars to come soon. But I'll just have to wait a while longer. It seems this template is popular the world over.
