VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

State-owned electricity company PT PLN has built 27 public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, locally known as SPKLU, in a number of tourist destinations to support the development of environmentally friendly tourism.

PLN's Business Director for Java, Madura, and Bali regions Haryanto WS said there were five leading tourist destinations where the EV charging stations were built, namely the Borobudur Temple area, Prambanan Temple area, Bali, Lombok, and Labuan Bajo.

"We are ready to support green tourism in Indonesia by readying electricity infrastructure, and it can also serve as a chance to promote the importance of shifting to electric vehicles," he said in a statement here on Sunday.

PLN has built many EV charging stations as part of its support for accelerating the clean energy transition in Indonesia.

Haryanto pointed out that the provision of SPKLU is one of PLN's efforts to push the country's electric vehicle ecosystem development.

According to him, the utilization of electric vehicles for tourism purposes that connect the main points of tourism, such as airports, hotels, and tourist attractions, is expected to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector significantly.

"Currently, we are preparing the SPKLU network to support the presence of electric vehicles in several other tourist destinations, namely Lake Toba, Likupang, and Mandalika, which are targeted for completion in October 2022," he informed.

PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo assessed that the presence of SPKLU is essential in the future due to the shift to electric vehicles.

He claimed that the use of electricity in the transportation sector has more benefits in terms of costs and emission levels.

"PLN is ready to provide abundant and clean energy-based electricity supply to encourage this electric vehicle ecosystem in Indonesia to become massive. It is time for a shift from fossil energy to environmentally friendly and abundant energy in Indonesia," Prasodjo remarked.

Aside from the charging stations, PT PLN also provides home charging services with a 30 percent discount for charging at customers' homes from 10 pm to 5 am. The company has also established public electric vehicle battery exchange stations or SPBKLU for two-wheeled vehicles.

To facilitate customers in finding the nearest charging stations, PLN has added the electric vehicle feature to the PLN Mobile application. (Antaranews)