VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Minister of Transportation, Budi Karya Sumadi is trying to make electric vehicles in Indonesia as a public need. That was stated by the minister when visiting an electric vehicle exhibition on Sunday (18/4).

In a press release, Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said that President Joko Widodo has issued presidential regulation No. 55/2019 on Battery-based Electric Vehicles for Land Transportation Program Acceleration. The Ministry of Transportation follows-up the regulation by making some regulations on electric vehicles through transportation ministerial regulations. The ministry regulates the electric vehicle physical type testing, certain vehicles with electric motor drive, and conversion of oil-based vehicles into battery-based.

The Transportation Ministry will also make a roadmap so that in 2030, the electric vehicles can be more significantly used by the people.

Minister Budi Karya Sumadi further said that some other efforts have been done, namely encouraging the use of electric vehicles through the service in some cities such as Bali, Surabaya, Bandung, and Medan. A program ‘Buy the service’ is a service purchasing system by the government which gives full subsidy for the operator with certain minimum service standards. As an early stage, the eco-friendly transportation will be used for Transjakarta and Damri for city transport.

Besides buses, the Transportation Ministry will also encourage the use of electric vehicles to taxi and motorcycle. It has also coordinated with the Minister of State-owned Enterprises, Erick Thohir and President Director of PT PLN, Zulkifli Zaini to build more charging stations.

Minister Budi Karya and first echelons in the Transportation Ministry have also used electric vehicles for their operation. He then encouraged other ministries and institutions to use electric vehicles. It is expected that electric vehicles will be an eco-friendly choice for the people and then improve the air quality in Indonesia.