For all their faults, electric trikes and quads are still good alternative transport solutions. These compact, battery-powered vehicles use up less of the road than regular four-wheeled cars while ferrying almost the same number of people.
If we had these for public utility vehicles, then we’d probably have less-polluted cities with less congested roads. Well, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) recently gave us a glimpse of what that might look like, as it recently tested this tiny jeep-looking thing.
This is an electric quadcycle, or what the Ecology Builders and Development Corporation (EBDC) call the ‘Basic Geep.’ Not a lot of details were shared about it, only that it has a solar panel mounted on its roof “to promote sustainable and energy-efficient mobility.”
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Judging by the photos, though, we can see that this little electric jeepney can fit perhaps a minimum of six people, including the driver. Its seats follow the traditional jeepney layout with benches at the back of the cabin.
The design is also full-on jeepney-like, with the stainless steel body, the signature jeepney front end, and garnishes on the rear bumper. For kicks, the people who built this even put a Momo steering wheel and a wooden shift knob inside. There’s also a proper 1DIN stereo and what appears to be a digital instrument cluster. The EV batteries are shown mounted under the hood.
This was just a demonstration of what looks like a concept electric vehicle, so we don’t really know other details like maximum range, charging capacity, and even safety features. We’re also guessing this won’t be the final production version, and that we won’t be seeing it on Metro Manila’s roads anytime soon. But it does give us an idea of what the future of public transport might look like. What do you guys think? Is this something you’d like to see in the city one day?
More photos of EBDC’s mini solar-powered jeepney:
