Lisbon's modern EVs in classic clothing

As the rest of the world begins to embrace the electrification of its transport sector, in the Philippines, that shift is still moving slowly. Understandably, there's a lot of hesitation to make this shift.

- IÑIGO S. ROCES

After all, it's quite an undertaking. It involves convincing the public to make the shift in the first place, finding the right vehicles for each use case, purchasing those new electrified vehicles, and building the infrastructure to support their charging. It's a dilemma much of the world is facing.

Nonetheless, there are many countries that have embraced this shift quite comfortably and can serve as role models. Naturally, there are the usual suspects like Sweden, Norway, China, and parts of the US. However, another unlikely role model turns out to be Portugal.

Just last week, I was invited to fly to the country to test drive a new and upcoming electric vehicle. I'll share more on that vehicle later on, but back to the point, Portugal is not the kind of country one expects to be leading in electrification.