Hundreds of Canadian $12K Dollar - 16 Seater Electric Vans heading to invade Smokey Jeepney Territory in Manila

The Comet, a prototype 16-passenger electric van, is headed to the Philippines today. It will be the first of hundreds of Comets that will replace heavily-polluting diesel jeepneys in the capital city of Manila. The vehicle was designed and built by Pangea Motors, based in Vancouver.Photo by Troy Wayrynen

A 16-passenger electric van built in Vancouver is headed to the Philippines yesterday, the first of what backers hope will be thousands of locally produced public transportation vehicles headed to the crowded streets of Manila.

The Comet, designed and built by Pangea Motors in a nondescript building near downtown Vancouver, Canada is viewed by its developers as a partial solution to the extreme air pollution in the congested city of 14 million residents. Pangea has orders from the Philippines for 200 Comets this year and expects that number to climb to 600 by the end of the year. Company CEO Michael Hippert sees the possibility for thousands of orders next year.

With that prospect in mind, the company is looking for a production site, most likely in either Vancouver or Clackamas, Ore., that Hippert says could employ hundreds by next year.

The vehicle, which made a brief publicity appearance on Vancouver streets near Esther Short Park on Monday morning, is the brainchild of Hippert and fellow electric vehicle industry veteran Ken Montler. They see the Philippines as a test site for a niche of urban transportation that makes sense for many of the world's highly congested cities.

"We believe this can be replicated anywhere in the world," said Montler, CEO of GET International, which is marketing the Comet for Pangea.

Hippert and Montler are two of three investors in Pangea, and they are the U.S. half of a joint partnership in GET International with Philippine investors. Both men were leaders in Porteon Electric Vehicles, which closed its doors after a deal to manufacture vehicles in St. Lucia collapsed. They launched the two new companies only about six months ago.

Social, financial ambitions

They have big ambitions for their venture's environmental, social, and financial potential. Manila's air pollution is among the world's most severe, Montler said, contributing to major respiratory problems for residents. The foul air from the city's approximately 55,000 diesel urban transport vehicles, known as jeepneys, reduces the life expectancy for jeepney drivers, he said. The Comet, they believe, will ease those problems.

Jeepney owners recognize the benefits that the Comet offers, Hippert said, and Philippine government officials are supporting their effort. The vehicles, which will cost around $12,000, have only about 400 parts compared to 3,000 parts for a gas-powered vehicle, reducing maintenance needs and vehicle down time. Electric power will reduce operational costs, and GET will work with local officials to establish designated transit routes to improve operational efficiency, Montler said.

In addition, Hippert and Montler have developed new financial streams for drivers, vehicle owners and their companies. Each vehicle is equipped with a video screen on the back wall, which could generate revenue from focused ad sales. Their long-term financial projects assume that the bulk of revenues will come from sales of ads that are targeted to the demographics of riders on individual routes.

The company also anticipates making money on commissions on prepaid fare cars and on fleet management services. Hippert said those revenues will be shared with vehicle owners and drivers,

The prototype vehicle is designed so that it can be built in easy-to-assemble components that can be shipped overseas for final assembly in the Philippines. That approach reduces costs for labor and shipping, while creating local jobs in the Philippines, Montler said.

For the local production in Canada, Hippert said the company will initially need 35,000 to 50,000 square feet, and that its needs could soon expand to 100,000 square feet. The company has been meeting with the Columbia River Economic Development Council in Clark County and with Clackamas County officials in Oregon, he said.

Bonnie Moore, CREDC's vice president of business growth and innovation, said she believes Pangea has found a solid market niche for electric vehicles. She said she has been actively searching for a site that would work for the company. "I just need to find an empty, and not too decrepit, building," she said.

But she acknowledged that Oregon and Clackamas County often have the ability to offer more incentives than Clark

"I think that startups need to go where the funding is, in their first seven years," she said.

No plan yet to set up a production plant in the Philippines. For orders and Information email:    sales [ @ ] highkot.com

With report from The Columbian 

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Davao, Philippines ranked as 4th safest in 349 cities in the World over Seoul Korea and Hongkong

Screen captured from Numbeo.com website 

DAVAO -- The city of Davao ranked fourth as the world's safest place, according to website Numbeo.com.

Out of 349 entries, Davao City is the only metropolis in the Philippines that made it to the top 10. It has a crime index of 13.27 and safety index of 86.73.

Makati landed at 20th place with a crime index of 18.75 and safety index of 81.25.

The only other cities listed from the Philippines are: Manila with a crime index of 64.54 and safety index of 35.46, and Cebu with a crime index of 46.88 and safety index of 53.12.

According to the website, safety index is, on the other way, quite opposite of crime index. If the city has a high safety index, it is considered very safe.

It said that it is 93.75 percent safe to walk alone during daylight in Davao, while 76.69 percent safe to walk alone during night.

"These data are based on perceptions of visitors of this website in the past two years. If value is 0, it means it is perceived as very low, and if value is 100, it means it is perceived as very high," the website said.

With regard the crime index of 18.75, the website explained, the issue with the highest rate is the problem on corruption and bribery with 31.67, followed by "worries things from car stolen" with 29.69, then "worries home broken and things stolen" with 26.56.

The issue with the least crime rate is "worries being subject to a physical attack because of your skin color, ethnic origin or religion" with 6.67.

Treat with caution

The source Numbeo claims to be the world's largest database of user contributed data about cities and countries worldwide.

It provides current and timely information on world living conditions including cost of living, housing indicators, health care, traffic, crime and pollution.

But it gathers data through user input, thus although it is popularly consulted as source for cost of living, its data have to be addressed with caution.

User input can skew data and will not reflect the whole picture, especially from places where there is not much available data. It cannot also be ascertained where and how the numbers can be verified.

The crime and safety indexes were published online at http://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_current.jsp around 11 p.m. of August 8.

The website also said that Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates placed first among the safest place with a safety index rate of 90.47, then Lugano, Switzerland (90.16), and third is Marbella, Spain (88.78).

Fifth is Taipei, Taiwan (86.26); next is Munich, Germany (86.06); Quebec City, Canada (85.55) ranked seventh; then Hong Kong, Hong Kong (85.51) as eighth; Seoul, South Korea (84.28) on ninth place; and Bern, Switzerland (84.24) as tenth.

Netizens happy

Netizens all over the country lauded the result posted online.

Chris Ryl said: "Akalain mo ba naman nasa Mindanao yun pa ang mas least of crime rate sa Pilipinas! at tumatak pa sa buong mundo... GO DAVAO!!!"

"Wow congrats. Ipahiram nyo po ang DDS sa Maynila pra maubos mga kriminal dun," netizen Kenneth G. Taningco said.

Some netizens also attributed the result to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, the city's executive chief for an unprecedented seventh term.

"Kung ganyan katapang ni mayor ng Davao ang nag papatakbo ng Pinas at pinapairal ang disiplina at batas, talagang my takot ang mga mokong gumawa ng kalokohan. Mabuhay ka mayor Doterte. Lagi mo akong kasangga sa ganyang prinsipyo," netizen Al Dallu said.

Edmund Moonraker said, "Thumbs up!! po ako kay Mayor Rudy R. Duterte. Maganda po ang kanyang pagdala ng Davao City. Mabuhay po kayo Mayor Duterte puwedi na po kayong tumakbo ng presidente sa 2016."

"Duterte for president!" Jevy Carretero Ramos said.

With report from (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)

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FIBA: 5 times Champion Philippines’ recent victories over Kazakhstan and Korea defeated by 3 times champion Iran for gold

Iran players celebrate after winning the 27th FIBA Asian Men's Basketball Championship in Manila yesterday.

Iran routed the Philippines 85-71 to bag gold at the 27th FIBA Asian men's basketball championship yesterday, powered by NBA centre Hamed Haddadi.

The seven-foot two-inch Haddadi was simply too much inside the paint for the Philippine side, scoring 29 points to lead all players.

Haddadi, the first Iran-born player in the US National Basketball Association, also grabbed 16 rebounds as he towered over his opponents. The speedy Filipinos made a valiant effort, and were playing without injured centre Marcus Douthit.

It was Iran's third gold at the Asian championship. The Philippines are five-times champions, though their last victory came back in 1985.

Iran, the Philippines and third-placed South Korea, who lost to the Philippines in the semis, will go to the FIBA world championships in Spain next year.

The Philippines trailed by as much as nine points before clawing back to 34-35 at half time led by point guard Jayson William.

The home team played in front of a crowd of about 20,000, with President Benigno Aquino and other top government officials at courtside to cheer them on.

The raucous fans however were silenced as Haddadi repeatedly clobbered them inside the paint with his low post play and put backs.

China beat Qatar

China ended their campaign with a 96-85 victory over Qatar, finishing fifth. The only chance for the former Asian Champion to play in next year's Basketball World Cup in Spain is a wildcard awarded by FIBA.

"We wanted to play the final so it's not good for us to play this match," said Panagiotis Giannakis, head coach of China. "But I think we learnt many things from this tournament. We have the opportunity to become stronger in the future."

A 13-0 run in the beginning of the second half helped China to enlarge their lead, which was only five points by halftime. The 15-time Asian Champion never let the match slip away from their hands from then on.

It was a tight game at the start of the first, with Wang Zhizhi building a three-point lead off a Yi Jianlian assist with six minutes and 20 seconds remaining, 9-6.

But Mohammed Saleem Abdullah and Mansour Elhadary then went on a 7-0 run for Qatar, building one-point lead after the first quarter. Wang Zhizhi then anchored a 15-4 run to start the second period.

Qatar responded with a 15-5 run to tie the game at 40-all.Wang Shipeng and Zhu Fangyu had the last say in the second, giving China a 45-40 lead at the half.

Guo Ailun led China with 21 points and five assists. Veteran Wang Zhizhi finished his last Asian Championship game with a 13-point and 11-rebound double-double.

Yi Jianlian took 12 while Wang Shipeng and Zhufangyu combined for 24. China suffered a shocking loss to Chinese Taipei in Friday's quarter-finals, leading them to their second worst result in Asian Championships.

"We need to summarize after returning back to China," said Yi. "Not only today's match. Not only this tournament. It's for a long time."

"During the tournament we didn't improve as I wanted," said Giannakis. "We lost our concentrations sometimes and we lost the chance to the final. But I think we will become smarter with more experiences."

INQUIRER & Gulf Times

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