Govt to Accelerate Electric Cars Production
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan inspects an electric car produced by the National Institute of Technology (Itenas) in Bandung, Saturday (27/4). Photo by: PR of Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
Electric cars will create energy diversification, give a significant impact on air quality and reduce the volume of fuel imports, according to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan.
“Because of this strategic value, the Government continues to encourage the use of electric vehicles that have low emissions to be able to compete with conventional vehicles,” the Minister said after commemorating the 49th Earth Day at the Geology Museum, Bandung, Saturday (27/4).
On that occasion, Jonan had an opportunity to try a Crossover electric car called EVHERO and the V8 VADI Sportscar, all of them produced by the National Institute of Technology (Itenas).
Jonan said that the biggest challenge for electric cars is pricing. “If the price of an electric car is Rp1.5 billion or Rp750 million, nobody wants to buy it, since the price is two times of Kijang Car,” Jonan said, referring to a car brand.
Jonan added that electric cars are very necessary because fuel consumption continues to increase along with the growth of motor vehicles as well as the availability of highway infrastructure. According to Jonan, it is difficult to reduce fuel demand and consumption and electric car can reduce imports of fuel or crude oil.
He went on to say that mass production of electric cars will significantly reduce pollution and fuel import because all components for electricity supply are available domestically.
“All primary energy sources for electricity generation are available domestically, including coal, sunlight, natural gas, geothermal, wind and water. Indonesia has everything, so that the import of fuel can be reduced day by day. We have responsibility to control the fuel import proportionally, otherwise the import will continue to grow,” Jonan explained.
The Minister expressed his optimism that the state electricity company PLN is ready to provide the Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (SPLU) because it already has more than 30% electricity reserves.
Jonan further said that building charging stations is not difficult and PLN has built 1,600 charging stations in Greater Jakarta and several big cities. “We are ready to build charging stations outside Java, if there is demand for electric vehicles,” Jonan concluded. (Humas Kementerian ESDM/ES)
Translated by: Ridwan Ibadurrohman
Edited by: Yuyu Mulyani
