Congressman Ronald Singson (son of Erap whistle blower former Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson) filed a bill recently that will allow for cheaper tariffs in the importation of parts to be used in Hybrid cars. The bill sponsored by the distinguished gentleman from Ilocos’ 1st District will also give tax incentives to Philippine importers and manufacturers of hybrid vehicles.

Filed as House Bill No. 2084 it has already been accepted by the Congress’ Ways and Means Committee. Our very own Mr. Biofuels, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, is the co author of this bill.

If this bill gets passed it will improve greatly the Return on Investment for the people who opted to buy a Hybrid car. People say that you don’t have to be a genius to realize that in the long run Hybrid Cars are worth the investment. But some sectors also point out that a hybrid car relies so much on its batteries to store energy that it becomes its Achilles heel.

This dependence on the battery means that battery life plays a very important part in the overall fuel efficiency of the hybrid car. Most of the fuel savings occurs when the car is able to run on its batteries which free up the internal combustion engine from having to power up and burn fossil fuel. According to them, this constant charging and discharging puts a toll on the charge capacity of your battery and in turn can kill your fuel efficiency.

With the high prices of gas right now, it could still be well worth it. The adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles also raises the problem of an increased volume in old batteries that have to be disposed of.

The Toyoto Motor Corp which makes the Toyota Prius, a very popular hybrid car, extols the use of Hybrid vehicles because of the following reasons:

1. Greater Fuel Efficiency - because of the combination of electric and internal combustion engine, less fuel is required by the car.
2. Lower emissions - less fuel burned means lesser emissions. Less harmful to our environment compared to cars that run mainly on its fossil fuel burning engine.
3. Less Waste of Energy - Since heat from deceleration and braking is recovered and converted into electrical energy for use to power the electric engine their is less waste during the entire combustion to energy conversion process.

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