My kind of Jeep

Finally a road vehicle that excites me…I’m not into cars..fast cars, slow cars, they don’t really matter to me.. I cant distnguish one brand from another. I describe cars by their size and color..

Needless to say, new vehicles on the road do not grab my attention…except for one…

As I was leaving the provincial capitol of Negros Oriental in Bacolod City, my staff reminded me that to get to my next meeting, I would be riding the latest jeepney to hit the streets of bacolod.. I should mention at this point, that if there is any public utility vehicle that would pique my curiosity it would be the jeep.

For one, I love looking at the art work found on the sides of jeepneys, especially the very colorful ones and those that depict images related to our culture or beautiful places in our country. And second, as a child, my mom used to take me to the Intercon Hotel jeepney coffee shop where we would sit in the jeep and eat merienda..

But back to the jeep in Bacolod..This jeep is super special because it does not run on gasoline or diesel! It runs on electricity. Like any electronic gadget, you just have to plug it into an outlet, charge for a few hours and its good to go!…
Its called the E-Jeep. Its a joint project of the Green Renewable Independent Power Producer, Inc. (GRIPP), Greenpeace and Solar Electric Company.

Here’s another exciting bit of info about this jeep and the vision of the groups behind the e-jeep. The intention is to use energy from biodegradable waste from the city’s wet markets to power not just the jeep but an environmental-friendly mass transport system.

So, we address the problem of air pollution and solid waste management at the same time!

cool diba?

At present, the e-jeep is being test run in Bacolod and Makati. Since it only runs at 40kph, it is meant to ply small busy roads where the speed is usually slow anyway. Perfect for commuters inside a subdvision or short destinations. For efficient operations, we are told that the plan is to build stations where the jeeps can be charged, so instead of gas stations, we will have charging stations..

Needless to say, I enjoyed my short but extremely pleasant jeepney ride. Oh, by the way, it also is super quiet. No rumbling engines, no noisy tambutso!

I am really hoping to see more innovative environment-friendly projects like this.

Next thing you know, you’ll be calling your mom or boyfriend and saying, sorry Im late, no low bat yung jeep na sinasakyan ko!