DOE revises classifications and guidelines on electrified vehicles

The government’s efforts to make electrified vehicles become the norm in the country seems to be working so far with nearly 30,000 of these having been registered from January to July this year, already an 81% increase compared to the total for the whole of last year.

Despite that, a lot of guidelines remained unclear ever since the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA Law) was passed into law in 2022. The Department of Energy (DOE) is taking action and has made some changes to the EV Recognition Guidelines under its Department Circular (DC) No. DC2025-09-0015, which goes into effect starting September 20, 2025.

This aims to provide a clearer and more harmonized classification system for electrified vehicles. It is worth noting that electrified vehicles are dubbed as Electric Vehicles (EVs) under these guidelines. 

So what has changed? For starters, there are now six EV classifications in the country: 

• Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) – EVs with only a traction battery as a power source for propulsion, in other words, pure electric vehicles; 
• Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) – EVs rechargeable energy source and fueled power source, provided that it can be propelled from a stop using only its electric motor; 
• Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) – Micromobility forms of personal transportation such as electric scooters and bicycles which weigh less than 50kg; 
• Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) – A type of HEV that can be charged from an external energy source and still has tailpipe emissions; 
• Range Extender Electric Vehicles (REEVs) – A type of HEV that are propelled exclusively by an electric motor but still has a fueled power source for recharging the battery to extend its driving range; and 
• Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) – EVs which use a fuel cell to generate electricity used to power its electric motor, and has no tailpipe emissions.

How does this affect current EV models sold in our market? We can use the Nissan Kicks e-POWER and BYD Sealion 6 DM-i as examples.

The two crossovers are currently recognized by the DOE as BEVs. This is despite them having a fueled power source in order to recharge their batteries, with the latter also capable of recharging through an external source. 

Under the updated guidelines, both models should fall under REEVs, but as long as Nissan Philippines and BYD Cars Philippines do not make any major changes to these models (such as a new generation), they can retain their current BEV classification. 

Once their classifications change, one thing that may change is pricing as BEVs enjoy different tax breaks compared to other classifications. In addition, discontinued models will also be removed from the list of recognized EVs.

This will definitely shake up the industry and may or may not remove a whole bunch of vehicle models that are currently classified (such as under HEVs). One thing’s for sure, we’ll keep you posted.