Indonesian Transportation Minister Endorses Electric Cars

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Electric cars are set to make further inroads in Indonesia after the Ministry of Transportation ordered 100 electric automobiles for Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi and other senior officials.

The procurement came after Budi endorsed Hyundai’s Ioniq line of electric cars.

Budi officially started using the Ioniq electric cars for official business, along with senior officials from the Ministry of Transportation on Wednesday, December 16. “Electric cars are the vehicles of the future because of their environmentally friendly qualities,” he said to the Antara state news agency.

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“Their characteristics can reduce pollution from gas emissions, such as those emitted by vehicles using fossil fuels, and so leave a cleaner carbon footprint.” Budi added that he is pushing the use of electrical vehicles for public transportation, among them the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.

The electric vehicles are the second of its kind to be used by the Ministry, since it used six electric powered motorcycles which were converted from fossil fuels in 2019.

The development of electric battery powered vehicles in Indonesia has received an impetus in recent years, particularly after President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo signed a Presidential Order to develop electric cars.

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Budi’s endorsement of electric cars comes as the government is carrying out talks with Tesla to invest in a factory producing electric car batteries.

Tesla owner Elon Musk is expected to send a delegation to explore the building of a factory to manufacture electric batteries, as well as the possibility of Indonesia as a launch pad for the South African-born mogul’s Space X space exploration program.

Aside from Tesla, Hyundai and Toyota are also exploring the building of batteries for electric cars at their factories in Indonesia.

(Writers: Muhammad Idris, Rully R. Ramli | Editors: Muhammad Idris, Bambang P. Jatmiko)

Sources: 

https://money.kompas.com/read/2020/12/16/235200226/menhub-resmi-pakai-mobil-listrik-untuk-kendaraan-dinas-ri-35?page=all#page2. 

https://money.kompas.com/read/2020/12/17/053100226/budi-karya-dan-eselon-i-kemenhub-mulai-gunakan-mobil-listrik-untuk-kendaraan. 

https://www.kompas.com/global/read/2020/12/14/143642470/tanggapi-tawaran-jokowi-elon-musk-kirim-tim-ke-indonesia-januari-2021?page=all#page2.