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Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi (center) and members of the National Energy Council (DEN) posed for a picture on electric motorcycles at the Transportation Ministry building in Jakarta on Tuesday (May 11, 2021). ANTARA/HO-Doc. DEN - 

The increased uptake of electric vehicles will lower the consumption of fuel oil, thereby reducing Indonesia's current account deficit, a member of the National Energy Council (DEN) representing stakeholders Satya Widya Yudha stated.

"If we can have two million electric motorcycles, two thousand electric cars, and 600 electric buses, we can save at least 2.35 million barrels of fuel oil in a year," Yudha remarked here on Friday.

Earlier on Tuesday (May 11), eight members of DEN, representing stakeholders, held a meeting with Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, DEN's member representing the government.

The eight DEN members are Agus Puji Prasetyono, Musri, Satya Widya Yudha, Herman Darnel Ibrahim, Daryatmo Mardiyanto, Eri Purnomohadi, As Natio Lasman, and Yusra Khan.

Prasetyono and Musri represented academics, Yudha and Ibrahim represented the industry, Mardiyanto and Purnomohadi represented consumers, Lasman was for technology, and Yusra Khan for environment.

Yudha pointed to reduced carbon emissions from transportation being dominated by means of land transportation.

"Hence, the Transportation Ministry's initiative to boost the uptake of electric vehicles is reasonable," he stated.

However, it necessitated the provision of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, including free parking, free toll road tariff, or cashback while buying electric vehicles to attract public interest to use them.

The government will additionally require to build more charging stations, he remarked.

"The government has targeted to establish 88,045 charging stations by 2025, and until now, only 57 stations have been built at 35 locations. The development of charging stations would need to be accelerated," he pointed out.

According to Yudha, DEN's members had also sought recommendation for its strategic plan for the 2021-2025 period, especially on the Transportation Ministry's inter-sectoral policy to achieve the mixed energy target.

The strategic plan has focused on applying the national energy mix plan based on fair, sustainable, and environmentally sound principles in pursuit of energy resilience, self-sufficiency, and sovereignty.

The DEN will optimize monitoring on the implementation of inter-sectoral energy policies encompassing the national energy policy (KEN), national energy general plan (RUEN), and regional energy general plan (RUED)//ANT