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TalinoEV Start-Up Makes Electric Cars Cheap in the Philippines, Cuts Expenses in Half

Ever visited the Philippines? Neither have we, but if we ever to take that year-long sabbatical journey it’s definitely one of the destinations on our bucket list. We don’t know if you heard much about these beautiful parts of Asia. Besides the gorgeous landscapes, great food and cool people, it appears they also have quite a big problem with traffic and pollution, especially in crowded cities like Manila. There is, however, a start-up company working to change that.
E-trikes are parked next to a sidewalk in Manila 1 photo
Photo: Tech in Asia
Green might be echo-conscious, but it does not relate to low-income-consciousness since most of the EVs we currently find on the market rather belong to the premium category. Sure, the Chinese are pushing the pedal, developing cheaper and cheaper models, but they still have a long way to the top, and it’s not rock and roll we’re talking about here.

It’s easy, people can’t afford luxury sedans like the Tesla Model S, heck most of the regular folks of this planet can’t even buy a Nissan Leaf. So what happens if we do want to make this world better, but we can’t quite afford it? Well, using electric cars similar to how we do with pre-paid phone sims would be a start. That sort of is TalinoEV’s plan and here’s their story.

Pay-per-drive?

The US-based startup that currently operates mainly in the Philippines is working with EV manufacturers to cut the cost of their products by about half to equal that of gasoline-powered models. The key to their business is the so-called “smartpacks”, a system composed of efficient lithium-ion batteries and a clever way to manage them. It appears that people who purchase the EVs wearing them are essentially paying for the special battery on a pay-per-use system.

Co-founder Marc Ira told Tech in Asia that their system can be compared with the mobile phone industry: “you can charge your phone all you want overnight. If in the morning you want to make a call, and you didn’t load it with credit, you cannot make a call. The phone restricts the discharge of the call. In the same manner, an EV with our brains will restrict the discharge of energy from the battery until you pay for the ability to discharge the energy.”

You pay you drive. This way the cost of the battery is cushioned over time, lowering the upfront cost of an EV. The founders believe this will help jumpstart EV sales.

Further features include things such as real-time remote battery monitoring and management, status and even location through its cloud-based server, and even a remote kill switch capability. In other words, the owner can switch the car off in case of theft. Even banking companies that finance the purchase of the EV can shut down the power if the owner doesn’t keep up with payments.

Feel free to take a closer look at the video below in case you're curious to find out more and also check out their website.

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