The arrival of Gesits, short for Garansindo Electric Scooter (ITS), was welcomed by Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education M. Nasir in Denpasar on Saturday.
"Gesits electric motorbike prototype units performed well during the test drive and did not face any significant problem during the journey," Minister M. Nasir said.
Gesits is expected to go into mass production in 2018, the minister stated, adding that a production permit must be issued in 2017.
Gesits is a research product of Sepuluh November Institute of Technology Surabaya (ITS) and PT Garansindo Surabaya.
The Director General for Innovation Strengthening at the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, Jumain Appe, noted that the ministry offers incentive for research on electric motorbike prototypes.
It was part of the governments initiatives to boost research in the industrial sector as it can produce innovative products.
So far, five prototypes have been produced for test drive and five others for crash test.
Five Gesits prototype units began the test drive from Jakarta on Monday (Nov 7) at around 10:00 a.m. local time and arrived in Denpasar on Friday at 05:00 p.m. local time.
During the test drive, the prototypes, which could have touched more than 100 km per hour, maintained an average speed of 60 km per hour.
Gesits prototype is equipped with two types of Lithium-ion batteries.
A 6 kwh battery is installed to push the motorbike to more than 100 kph, while a smaller 3 kwh battery is designated for traveling below 60 or 70 kph.
"We changed the battery 12 times during the journey. There was no problem of any short circuit even when it rained," Yoga, a test driver, disclosed.
However, at times, the electric motor could heat up until 90 degree Celsius and turned off, he observed.
The overheating problem was fixed by creating a channel to allow air flow to the motor, thus reducing the heat to 50 or 60 degree Celsius.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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