The electric vehicle program became one of the governments' efforts in encouraging domestic energy independence by reducing fuel oil import dependency, the ministry's official, Dwinugroho, noted through a statement on Monday.
"In managing the energy sector, the government has the obligation to ensure national energy security," he explained.
"The effort is undertaken by encouraging domestic energy independence through reduction of fuel oil dependency, such as by utilizing electric vehicles for road transportation," he remarked.
The ministry recorded the presence of 332 charging stations at 279 public locations and 269 battery swap stations across Indonesia.
The charging facilities are also available at tourism destinations. During the G20 Presidency, the government managed to build 24 charging stations at 17 locations in Bali.
In addition, charging stations were built at the Borobudur Temple Complex in Central Java and Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara.
The ministry expects that with the rising number of charging stations coupled with developing charging technology, the process to charge the battery of electric vehicles will only take between 30 and 90 minutes, Dwinugroho stated.
As a result, this will make the use of electric cars more attractive for vehicle owners, he added.
Currently, the ministry is revising ESDM Ministerial Regulation No. 13 of 2020 in a bid to increase the number of charging stations and battery swap stations.
This is done through incentives, such as a more flexible licensing process and technical requirements.
In addition, the ministry actively conducts a program to convert fuel oil-run motorcycles to electric ones.
In 2022, the ministry aims to convert one thousand motorcycle units from ministries and state-owned institutions to electric motorcycles.
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Translator: Sugiharto P, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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