Electric vehicles are regarded as energy transition technology towards more sustainable and environment-friendly transportation systems. Despite the benefits of reducing the dependence on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions, the adoption of electric vehicles faces several obstacles ranging from financing issues, government policies, and public acceptance. This study aims to identify the economic, environmental, and social impact of the adoption of electric vehicles for public transportation. Using the Philippines as a case study, the findings highlight the economic advantage of investing in electric public transportation with high public acceptance. The results further identify significant decrease in air pollution, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and encourage lowering the reliance on imported fossil fuels by shifting the public transport from conventional to electric transport system. This study recommends stricter implementation of government policies on modernized public transportation, stronger government support on financing mechanisms, establishment of charging stations in public and private terminals, and boosting programs for developing local-made electric vehicles. To make electric vehicle more environment-friendly, the government must accelerate the energy transition by increasing the electricity share from renewable sources and investing in more sustainable sources of energy.

Electrification of public utility vehicles plays a vital role in the transition towards a more sustainable transport system. However, the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) encounters varying challenges ranging from financing issues, government policies, and public acceptance. Using the Philippines as a case, this research applies political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental (PESTLE) analysis to determine how different drivers affect the adoption of EVs in the public transport system from various transport stakeholders’ vantage points. Survey results identified economic and technological factors as the main barriers to the adoption of electric public transport. This includes high investment and operational costs, lack of charging infrastructure, issues in driving range and use in different terrains, and the availability of EV parts and repair stations. On the other hand, the main enabler is the significant public support for the modernization of the public transport system through EVs, backed up by policy and legal drivers. For a zero-emission public transport system, this study recommends that the government should invest in sustainable sources of energy, develop more public infrastructure, diversify the transport sector, fund the development of locally made EVs, and initiate a massive information campaign in educating the public of its advantages.

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Investment in sustainable energy sources is one of the climate mitigation strategies that can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector. However, in developing countries, investment is challenged by high capital expenditures and several uncertainties. This paper aims to provide decision support for investment in sustainable energy projects by evaluating the comparative attractiveness of shifting energy sources from fossil fuels to renewables and nuclear. Applying the real options approach (ROA), we calculate the value of the flexibility to postpone the investment decision and identify the optimal timing (described here as the trigger price of coal) for shifting to sustainable energy sources. We consider various uncertainties, such as coal and electricity prices, negative externality of using fossil fuels, and the risk of a nuclear accident, which are modelled using geometric Brownian motion, Poisson process, and Bernoulli probability. Applying the ROA model in the case of the Philippines, results find that investing in sustainable energy is a better option than continuing to use coal for electricity generation. However, contrary to conventional option valuation result that waiting is a better strategy, we found that delaying or postponing the investment decisions may lead to possible opportunity losses. Among the available sustainable energy sources, geothermal is the most attractive with trigger prices of coal equal to USD 49.95/ton, followed by nuclear (USD 58.55/ton), wind (USD 69.48/ton), solar photovoltaic (USD 72.04/ton), and hydropower (USD 111.14/ton). We find that the occurrence of jump (extreme) prices of coal, raising the current feed-in-tariff, and considering negative externalities can decrease the trigger prices, which favor investments in sustainable energies. Moreover, the risk of a nuclear disaster favors investment in renewable energy sources over nuclear due to the huge damage costs once an accident occurs. Results provide bases for policy recommendations toward achieving a more secure and sustainable energy sector for developing countries that are too dependent on imported fossil fuels.