Air Pollution is Also Caused by Coal-Fired Power Plants
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Editor
9 September 2023 11:53 WIB
What’s the connection?
Excess electricity will be absorbed, even if the price is cheap. Heru will identify malls, offices, and apartments that use diesel fuel and give them warnings. At the same time, we will ask PLN to lower their electricity tariff.
Were electric vehicles discussed as a way to lower pollution?
Not too much. But they were recommended and the procurement process and use are being accelerated, among others, by the ministry. We’re already using more than 50 vehicles under a leasing mechanism.
What about public transport? Will they also be converted to electric vehicles?
The same. For public transport such as buses, there will be incentives. True that electric vehicles are more expensive. The batteries make them expensive. We have to create standard batteries. Batteries shouldn’t be a capital expenditure but an operational expenditure, so rent them. Say a motorcycle is priced at Rp15 million (about US$983), and around Rp5 million (US$328) is the price of the battery. Maybe 30 percent. So, we’re trying to make standard batteries.
How many public transport vehicles use electric power today?
I don’t know the number at the top of my head. Blue Bird, Grab, and Gojek use quite a lot. But buses still use only a few.
How much pollution is reduced by using electric vehicles?
I can’t speak quantitatively, so let’s talk qualitatively. Ideally, people use public transport. That’s the first thing. The president has already initiated MRT, LRT, and soon the fast train. Also KRL (electric commuter line train). In one day, the KRL can have 1 million to 2 million passengers, MRT around 100,000. When the LRT operates, it can have 200,000 to 300,000 passengers. Just from these three, it’s almost 1 million to 5 million passengers. Then the Transjakarta buses. I don’t know how many there are. What we need to do is to make these urban mass transport go from point to point. If someone lives near Harjamukti, they can take the LRT, and then the MRT or a Transjakarta bus to Grogol. The more intersections there are between these mass transport, the more likely people will switch (to public transport). The switch hasn’t happened yet because (public transport is not working) optimally yet. Electric vehicles would certainly reduce pollution.
Is there a road map for electric vehicles?
There is. We aim for a massive (use) of electric vehicles in 2035. Almost all vehicles.
What are the stages like?
There’s a subsidy of around Rp7 million (US$459) for motorcycles and Rp20 million (US$1,311) for cars. And the battery technology is getting more and more advanced. More advanced means cheaper, longer range, smaller. The battery technology is like cell phones: the smaller the more sophisticated.
So, in 2035 all vehicles will be electric?
Mathematically, we hope that all motorcycles will be electric. With cars, we’ll give them large progressive taxes. Only electric vehicles will exist.
What about the fate of fossil fuel cars?
No need to use them in cities. We’re targeting cities first so that non-electric vehicles don’t become waste. There is also conversion. I’m converting Vespa to electric, although it’s expensive. Conversion is still Rp15 million (US$983), although motorcycles are not that expensive. But, at some point, the technology will reach an economic price.
If the electricity comes from coal-fired power plants, doesn’t that also cause pollution?
Even Europe struggled without coal. They’re just using double standards.
Read the Full Interview in Tempo English Magazine
