Toyota seeks end-of-life dismantlers of old vehicles in PH; Thailand, Indonesia emerge as EV conversion hubs
The Japan Mobility Show 2023, which is open to the general public until Nov. 5, has certainly showcased next-level mobility design concepts—some even bordering on the outlandish. It goes without saying, though, that not everything that has been on display at the Tokyo Big Sight will actually see the light of day of mass commercial production, let alone in our neck of the automotive woods here in the Philippines. 
Despite all the excitement I’ve felt in the past few days that our media group basked in the technological and design wonders here at JMS 2023, I needed to get a reality check, as well. What we saw was as close to perfection as could be. However, the actual models that will be available to the public down the line in the next few years (yes, it still takes years from the drawing board to the dealership showroom) could be vastly different from what we saw here in Japan.
Compared to the past Tokyo Motor Shows that I’ve been to, JMS 2023 truly lives up to its promise of inclusive mobility and its focus on the radically changing mobility landscape that’s attuned to the actual and wide-ranging needs of people living under the spell of climate change.
Leading the charge of the multi-faceted paradigm shifts in mobility here in Asia has been the world’s number one carmaker, Toyota Motor Corp, along with its luxury brand Lexus. Hao Quoc Tien, regional deputy CEO and president of Toyota Motor Asia Pacific, revealed that the existing battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from Toyota and Lexus that we test drove at the Shimoyama Technical Center—namely the Toyota bZ4X and the Lexus RZ 450e—were designed completely from scratch. Surprisingly, he also disclosed that in Indonesia, the Kijang (our Innova) has been converted to full BEV, while in Thailand, the Hilux pick-up has also been converted to BEV.
It’s a start, he said, which would hopefully be scaled up. “We are not selling in big volumes yet. For the Hilux electric, I think next year we’ll start selling them in volume in Thailand. That’s why countries like Thailand and Indonesia are our priorities because those are the countries where these EVs are being assembled. We need to show the government that we have the capability to do it. We can do it. But the price is high,” explained Tien. But what of the Philippines? Tien said that the Philippines “needs to strengthen its supply chain (for EVs) in order to catch up with Thailand and Indonesia.”
He observed that there are “a lot of challenges for the Philippines’ supply chain. The supply chain is very small, basically nothing for BEVs; the battery, axle, the motor, they are imported. If you (still) import many components, then it becomes only assembly. The cost is still high because you import. Vehicle prices are very different when you compare local production versus imported.”
Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) president Edmund Araga confirmed this observation. “Yes, we import batteries, axles, motors and controllers, and that depends on economies of scale to get it at lower cost. One good solution is to have a common supplier that will be fitted to all EV models, e-jeep, or e-trike to secure a better volume on procurement of materials and supplies.”
EVAP chair emeritus Ferdinand Raquelsantos, however, has a different take on import costs. “It’s not a challenge since parts are coming from Asean members. I still believe that once the EVIS (Electric Vehicle Incentive Strategy) program is in place, which is for EV public utility vehicles, then we can develop EVs for commercial vehicles (CVs). With this, automatically the local supply chain will be strengthened. And possibly we can export these EV CVs to the Asean market.
Car dismantling program Pras Ganesh, executive vice president of Toyota Daihatsu Engineering & Manufacturing, revealed that one of Toyota’s major efforts in Asia has been its dismantling program for cars that have reached their end-of-life stage. “Toyota has been trying to organize dismantlers in the Philippines. We don’t look to buy and sell vehicles. (It’s not that) our job is done when we sell vehicles. You also have to ensure that the vehicle at the end of its life is appropriately dismantled. For example, the 3Rs (reuse, recycle, rebuild), how can we use this to maximize battery life?” said Ganesh.
Ganesh, who is responsible for the environment team for Asia, added: “If we talk about emissions, one of the reasons why we have a lot of emissions is that very old vehicles still run. What do we do with that? Ideally, we need to have a proper end-of-life vehicle scheme which doesn’t punish the poor. We need to give them solutions which will incentivize them to get them a more carbon-friendly vehicle. Thinking on the 3Rs and such are the integral responsibility for an OEM and the government to think of together.”
He said that Toyota is currently on the lookout for appropriate dismantlers who can be trained on how to dismantle old cars in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
“We’ll recycle what can be recycled. We have to find the best way of scrapping using the least emissions. In the Philippines, we’re looking at a couple of sites for that. Our target at the moment is that we want to get at least 10 dismantlers in Asia,” said Ganesh.
