I saw a very cute vehicle today while I was having walking to the office along Paseo de Roxas. It looks like an open multi-cab van. Everyday, I see the air-conditioned jeepneys plying the streets around Ayala center hence the name Ayala Loop jeep. But this is the first time that I saw this cute and colorful jeepney. Someone from behind me said e-jeepney.
An e-jeepney in Makati? Haven’t heard of that. I researched a little in the internet and I learned there are only a few e-jeepneys circling around Legazpi and Salcedo Village in Makati. It started with 2 last July but surely in a few months, we’ll see more e-jeepneys not only in Makati but in other places as well.
This is a very good idea and I hope that all jeepneys in the Philippines will be converted to electronic jeepneys. Since e-jeepneys run by rechargeable batteries and not through fuels, they can decrease our national consumption of fuel which is a non-renewable energy source.
E-jeepneys run on batteries that are charged by plugging it in electrical sockets. It’s just like charging our cell phones. They charge it overnight and the batteries last from 3 hours to whole day depending on the speed. With the heavy traffic around Salcedo Village and Legazpi Village, it probably lasts long.
Because they burn fuels, e-jeepneys don’t produce any air pollution and noise pollution. They don’t emit any smoke. They don’t ruin your ears when they accelerate like most of the ordinary jeepneys.
I overheard from someone from the street who also noticed the e-jeepney that aside from being cute, silent and clean, e-jeepneys will not reduce our consumption of fuel because fuel is used to generate electricity. But what I think is the main idea behind the e-jeepney is to eventually use other sources of energy for our electricity.
We know that we can use the energy of water falls and wind to generate electricity. When we change to e-jeepneys, it will be easier to find alternative sources of energy because the e-jeepneys don’t need fuel. They only need electricity. And electricity doesn’t necessarily have to be sourced from fuel.
The e-jeepney I saw today made me realize that a truly green Manila is still possible.