California-based EVT investing $80M to put up e-vehicle manufacturing plant in Clark

Envirotech Vehicles Inc. (EVT) is investing $80 million (around P4.3 billion) to build a production plant in Clark Freeport Zone as it bets on the EV market’s growth potential in the Philippines.
 
At a briefing in Taguig City on Tuesday, EVT president and CEO Phillip Oldridge and Berthaphil Inc. corporate secretary Arlene Anciete signed a lease agreement under which the American EV maker will set up temporary locations for its eventual plan to build a manufacturing plant.

Berthaphil is a commercial, industrial, and residential real estate developer in the Clark Freeport Zone.
 
“Right now we're going to start the temporary locations, and we're going to use those locations and convert [them] into [EV] parks and park storage afterwards,” Oldridge said.
 
“And we're going to build a manufacturing facility,” he said.
 
The EVT president said the company is targeting to start construction of the manufacturing plant in October this year and "hoping to have that entire facility completely finished and functioning by December of 2025."

Oldridge said EVT earmarked an initial $80 million investment over the course of four years to develop the plant.

The plant, which will have an area of 15,000 to 20,000 square meters, is targeted to have a maximum of five assembly lines, each with a capacity of 360 vehicles per year, for a total of 2,100 vehicles per annum.
 
“It will create around 800 direct jobs, spread across the manufacturing, green energy, and tech side of it. Indirectly, outside of the 800 jobs, we’ll have another 250 to 400 jobs, including outsourced jobs,” Oldridge said.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, who was present during the signing ceremony, said EVT’s plan “marks the start of a very healthy climate of investment in the Philippines.”
 
“We'd like to see your vehicles ply our streets all over Metro Manila, particularly jeepneys, because the number one complaint of jeepney drivers is the cost of fuel. We want to thank you for looking at the Philippines. We're a growing economy. We are a developing country,” Zubiri said.

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, and Clark Development Corp. president Agnes Devanadera also witnessed the signing of the lease agreement between EVT and Berthaphil. — VBL, GMA Integrated News