With the future of mobility resting on electrification, it wouldn’t make sense for our country not to get somehow involved. It seems that this is what the bigwigs at Malacañang were thinking as well, since President Marcos Jr. has officially inked a contract that will open the first Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant in the Philippines. Here’s the scoop.
The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed between the Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc (IMI) of the Ayala Group and Zero Motorcycles, a US-based company specializing in electrified transport. This strategic collaboration will see $65 million USD (PHP 3.6B) change hands in order to further support the country’s local EV ecosystem. As such, the first EV manufacturing plant in the Philippines will be established in order to bring these vehicles closer to home than ever before.
IMI’s role in this will be to handle the assembly of Zero’s electric motorcycle models as well as other parts and services. The local facilities in Laguna will be working closely with the main branch in California to ensure retained quality control and proper processes. The goal here is to employ 200 workers to assemble, pack, and ship 18,000 EVs on an annual basis. Should the plant deem successful, then we’re sure other EV companies will be looking to outsource manufacturing and labor to the Philippines.
In the meeting, a representative from Zero expressed that the Philippines is an ideal choice for their operations as they strive to expand their manufacturing business worldwide, catering to markets in Europe, Asia, and beyond, while also fulfilling US requests for sub-assemblies.
They then added that the Philippines is the ideal partner for Zero to enhance their manufacturing capabilities and establish a strong global manufacturing base.
Zero’s electric motorcycles will be made available in 2024 through AC Industrials.
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