Jose Alvarez, who heads a company that distributes Korean-made Kia cars locally, said he plans to spend P3 billion “for plant expansion and manufacturing, which is still two to three years down the road."
Although the technology is in its development stage and has yet to be commercially tested—even in Korea—Alvarez said he can convince his Korean partners to choose the Philippines as a hub for hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Hydrogen-powered vehicles use the fuel in a system similar to a traditional combustion engine. Meanwhile, other hydrogen-driven motors derive power by mixing the fuel with oxygen to produce water and electricity through conversion in a fuel-cell.
The senior car executive made this assertion during the opening of the second Philippine International Motor Show on Thursday.
For their part, local car companies are in the process of introducing newer, more fuel-efficient models with less harmful emissions. They also added it would take a few years before hybrid vehicles powered by alternative energy sources could become commercially available in the Philippines.
Toyota Motor Philippines President Hiroshi Ito told reporters that the hybrid technology is still being further developed. The hybrid Prius is already sold in the United States and Japan.
Infrastructure should already be in place when car companies finally launch hybrid vehicles, said Valentino M. de Leon, Nissan Motor Philippiens senior vice president for administration and corporate planing. Nissan's parent firm in Japan is also currently developing its own hybrid vehicle.
“It will probably be launched in Japan and the US by 2010. Everything else follows after that. The introduction should be parallel to the launch of infrastructure like charging stations and service centers. Otherwise, the market will not buy the cars," de Leon said. - Anna Barbara L. Lorenzo, GMANews.TV
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