TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Transportation Ministry targeted the use of electric vehicles for public transportation. The ministry's Director General of Land Transportation Budi Setiyadi said the government had taken the lead in using electric cars as its official fleet.

It is hoped that transportation operators will gradually start implementing it. "The use of electric vehicles is first initiated by the government and then for public transportation. So we encourage online transport applicators Grab, Gojek, and Maxim to operate electric fleet, followed by DAMRI," he said in a press release on Friday, November 12.

Budi explained there are still challenges thus far, including the high prices of electric-powered cars, especially their the battery components. Thus, the government is striving to make battery prices more affordable, one of which is by starting the opening of a battery factory in Karawang, West Java last September.

The Transportation Ministry encourages a scheme to purchase motorized vehicles without batteries, which is the concept of swapping batteries. There are several companies working in this industry, viz. PT Oyika Powered Solution and PT Indonesian Energy Swaps.

With the battery swapping concept, users can later visit the nearest minimarket that provides battery swaps, then exchange the empty battery with a fully charged one. "So the purchase of electric vehicles can be cheaper, because without batteries they just have to pay the rental cost," Budi Setiadi said.

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