Electric tricycles in Boracay, Philippines

I read recently in the Philippines Lonely Planet about the environmental difficulties that Boracay is facing, as a result of increased tourism and development on the island.  The local government is trying to address this through various interventions, one of which is the replacement of gas powered tricycles with electric trikes.

The normal trikes are great.  They’re side saddle bikes where you hop on and they save you a walk in the blistering heat.  They’re cheap, loud, hooty, angular and banged up.  They’re also good for carrying everything but the kitchen sink too.

Sitting in one today (though not the one pictured above), I passed an electric trike coming the other way.  These, in comparison, are a bit bigger, newer, rounder and definitely quieter (if still a bit hooty).

There are a lot of them, and for about every fifteen normal trikes I saw today, an electric one came (not-puttering) along.  A lot of them seem to be made by ToJo Motors.

Aren’t they great.