ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) has approved a PHP1.8 million grant to support the “Smart City” initiative of Dapitan City.
In a statement Friday, DOST Zamboanga del Norte Director Nuhman Aljani said the grant supports the implementation of the project titled “Support to LGU-Dapitan Smart City Initiative through Deployment of Charging in Minutes (CharM) Technology to Achieve Efficiently and Environment-Friendly Transportation Sector.”
On Thursday, a memorandum of agreement was inked by Aljani and Dapitan City Mayor Seth Frederick Jalosjos on the venture. Through the project, the DOST-9 will deploy the CharM technology to Dapitan City. CharM or Charging in Minutes is a facility for electric vehicles.
“Compared to a conventional e-vehicle chargers, CharM charges a lot faster. The facility can fully charge electric vehicles in 30 minutes compared to the conventional four to six hours of slow charging,” he explained.
Under the project, Aljani said the DOST-9 would install two units of CharM facility in strategic areas in Dapitan City. The CharM units are powered by a five-kilowatt solar photovoltaic hybrid system.
The technology was developed by the University of the Philippines Diliman through a research grant from the DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development.
“The good thing about this project is that the charging facility comes with solar panels that will supply its power requirements,” Aljani said.
In a separate statement, Jalosjos said they have long wanted the technology to be deployed to Dapitan City in line with their effort to promote a cleaner and more efficient transportation sector. “We are very happy with this project,” he stressed.
With the initiative, he said, Dapitan City would be able to realize its objective of running a fleet of electric tricycles (e-trike) in the city’s main thoroughfares. “We will procure 20 units initially to be funded by the city government,” Jalosjos added. (PNA)