VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Minister Arifin Tasrif called for the use of electric vehicles to reduce carbon emissions in Indonesia at the Conventional-to-Electric Converted Motorcycle Parade here on Wednesday.

The parade was among Indonesia’s G20 Presidency side events. The first meeting of the 2022 G20 Energy Transition Working Group (ETWG) is scheduled to take place on March 24–25, 2022, in Yogyakarta.

"The activity is in line with our attempt to reduce emissions, therefore, we continue to increase the use of electric vehicles. We have just tested the conventional motorcycles, which we have converted," the minister said.

In addition to reducing carbon emissions, vehicle conversion can reduce fuel consumption and encourage the development of other supporting industries, he added.

"Currently, there are more than 100 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (SPKLUs), with 85 percent of them using home charging system. We will continue to encourage the utilization of electrical energy to lessen (the use of) fossil fuels," he stated.

The ESDM Ministry is aiming to convert 120 million conventional vehicles into electric ones across Indonesia in the next 10 years.

"If each of the 120 million vehicles uses two liters of fuel per day, hence, through the vehicle conversion program, we will save 240 million liters of fuel per day," Tasrif noted.

The utilization of electric vehicles will also help vehicle owners save on spending since electric energy is cheaper than fuel, he added.

"We assume that using two liters of fuel will cost about Rp24 thousand (equivalent to US$1.66 as US$1 is Rp14,429 as of March 23, 2022). However, people will only spend a quarter of the amount if they use electrical energy—which is about Rp6 thousand (equivalent to US$0.42),” the minister said.

Hence, the owners of the vehicles will have a lot of savings, he noted.  (Antaranews)