A university research team in the Philippines has turned electric tricycle prototypes into licensable technology, offering both new-build and conversion options plus battery swapping to cut charging downtime. Commercial partners and government backing will determine whether costs fall enough for fleet uptake.
Cagayan State University (CSU) is licensing two e-tricycle solutions: a custom seven-seater prototype and an electric conversion kit for conventional tricycles.
The program received over 51 million pesos in state funding, includes a battery-swapping architecture to reduce downtime, and involved the University of the Philippines on core electrical systems.
Main barriers to adoption are high upfront prices and the need for local supply chains, financing structures, and maintenance models that lower total cost of ownership.
Cagayan State University's ElectroMobility Research and Development Center (EMRDC) unveiled electric tricycle prototypes at the Sustainability Expo 2026 in Manila and has made them available to commercial investors. The two showcased solutions are a custom-built seven-seater electric tricycle and a conversion system that turns existing gasoline tricycles into electric units.
One option is a purpose-built seven-seater prototype. Its initial build cost reached 600,000 pesos (about $10,400), because that figure includes research and one-off development expenses. CSU and its partners expect those per-unit costs to fall with scaled manufacturing and mechanized assembly.
The other option is the C-Trike conversion system. Designed to retrofit standard gasoline tricycles, C-Trike converts vehicles to electric for roughly 120,000 pesos (about $2,080). That approach lets fleet operators electrify incrementally without replacing entire vehicles.
The project was developed under the government's Science for Change Program and received more than 51 million pesos (about $884,000) in state funding. The University of the Philippines Diliman's Power Electronics Laboratory contributed the core electrical systems. CSU has signed technology licensing agreements with private-sector partners to handle commercial fabrication, assembly, and distribution.
The initiative aligns with national policy. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has pushed for localized clean vehicle manufacturing to reduce exposure to volatile petroleum prices. Small utility platforms like tricycles are an obvious priority: they operate on dense urban routes with predictable daily patterns, which fits depot-based charging or battery swapping.
High initial acquisition costs remain the largest barrier to adoption. Fleet operators will need to weigh total cost of ownership factors: electricity rates, financing terms, maintenance overhead, and battery replacement cycles. For meaningful local manufacturing value, domestic suppliers must establish reliable supply chains for power electronics, electric motors, and battery cells.
Commercial partners will determine whether the technologies scale and achieve price parity with gasoline equivalents. If investors can lower production costs, set up assembly lines, and provide accessible financing or leasing models, the conversion pathway and new-build tricycles could become viable for operators. The government continues to fund related projects, including solar-powered boats and an electric ferry, suggesting sustained public support for localized electric mobility.
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