No matter from the perspective of sales data or the layout of auto companies, the main export target of Chinese new energy auto companies is the distant European market. In fact, not far from China, there is already a blue ocean market that is more suitable for Chinese car companies to export new energy vehicles than Europe. The Philippines is about to abolish tariffs on new energy vehicles.
On November 24, the Philippine official in charge of economic planning said that in the context of high international oil prices, in order to stimulate the growth of electric vehicle consumers in the Philippines, President Ferdinand Romulus Marcos (Ferdinand Romulus Marcos) will issue an executive Order to reduce tariffs on all types of imported electric vehicles and spare parts to zero in the next five years.
It is worth mentioning that this decree covers a wide range of pure electric vehicles, buses, trucks, motorcycles and even electric bicycles, while tariffs on hybrid vehicles will remain unchanged. You must know that the current market size of new energy vehicles in the Philippines is almost negligible.
Of the more than 5 million vehicles registered in the Philippines, only about 9,000 of them are electric, according to Philippine government data. Among the 9,000 electric vehicles, only about 1% are private cars, and almost all electric private cars are owned by wealthy people.
According to the professor, the Philippines is more suitable for the development of new energy vehicles than most countries in the world. However, the main reason for the sluggish new energy vehicle market is the high cost of purchasing vehicles. However, its decree to cancel tariffs on electric vehicles has great hopes for revitalizing the Philippine new energy vehicle market.
Consumers in the Philippines need to spend 21,000-49,000 US dollars to buy an electric car, while buying a traditional fuel car usually only costs 19,000-26,000 US dollars. This means that in the Philippine market, electric vehicles are generally about 10%-50% more expensive than traditional fuel vehicles.
You should know that the current tariff rates for the models covered by the decree range from 5% to 30%. After the cancellation of tariffs, there is at least 5%-30% room for price cuts for new energy vehicles in the Philippine market. In the view of the professor, this decree is very likely to open up a new energy vehicle market for the Philippines, and even many new energy vehicle companies headed by Chinese brands flock here.
When the Philippines abolished pure electric vehicle tariffs and lowered the threshold for consumers to purchase pure electric vehicles, this island country can be said to have gathered favorable conditions, favorable conditions and favorable groups for the development of the new energy vehicle market.
In China, even though the battery life of new energy vehicles has generally developed to more than 400km, the battery life of some models even exceeds 700km. However, due to China's vast territory, battery life is still the biggest pain point for all Chinese pure electric vehicle consumers.
In fact, from the perspective of daily car use, most of the car consumers in China do not need new energy vehicles to have a long battery life. Because for the vast majority of car users, most of their car use scenarios are daily transportation, and the mileage of a single trip will not even exceed 100km.
In addition, for pure electric vehicle consumers in the north, the low-temperature endurance degradation of pure electric vehicles has always been a problem. In fact, so far, the problem of mileage attenuation of pure electric vehicles in low temperature environments has not been well resolved.
As early as last year, a number of media platforms and evaluation agencies conducted a series of tests on the low-temperature endurance degradation of pure electric vehicles. Among them, among the test results of 40 pure electric vehicles released by Zhichehuang, almost none of the test results can be obtained.
In addition, in the low-temperature driving mileage evaluation results of 6 pure electric vehicles released by the China Automotive Research Institute (China Automotive Research Institute), BYD Han EV's battery life decline rate reached 30.9% with the best low-temperature performance, and Nezha U with the worst performance reached 42.4%. .
However, the national conditions of the Philippines and China are quite different. In China, electric vehicle companies and power battery manufacturers can do nothing about it, and the battery life of pure electric vehicle consumers is not a problem in the Philippines. The reason is simple, that is, the Philippines has a unique geographical advantage in developing pure electric vehicles.
You should know that geographically, the Philippines is located in the south of China, and the annual average temperature is as high as 27°C. This means that pure electric vehicles in the Philippines do not have the problem of low-temperature endurance degradation that is a headache for consumers in northern China.
In addition, the Philippines is an island country with more than 7,000 islands. The 11 islands including Luzon, Mindanao, and Samar account for 96% of the country's total area. This means that the car usage scenarios of Filipino car consumers are usually not too far away. At present, mainstream pure electric vehicles can basically meet the needs of Filipino consumers.
In the view of the professor, China's new energy car companies will undoubtedly be the biggest beneficiaries of the cancellation of electric vehicle tariffs in the Philippines, and the Philippines after the cancellation of electric vehicle tariffs is also a blue ocean market that Chinese new energy car companies cannot miss.
The Philippines not only has natural geographical advantages in the development of new energy vehicles, but also has natural geographical advantages for Chinese new energy vehicle companies. Quite simply, the Philippines is not only less competitive compared to Europe's mass market, but also close to China.
There is a proverb in our country "the advantage of water is the advantage of the moon". As a neighboring country, the Philippines is not only suitable for Chinese new energy vehicle companies to export pure electric vehicles to it, but also suitable for Chinese new energy vehicle companies to assemble and produce pure electric vehicles locally. You should know that the Philippines is about to cancel not only the import tariffs on electric vehicles, but also the import tariffs on electric vehicle parts.
