Electric Vehicles Struggle to Cross Islands

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The adoption of electric vehicles in Indonesia continues to show positive trends. Government support, an expanding range of models, and a growing network of charging stations have driven increasing public interest in electric vehicles year on year. However, several obstacles to electric vehicle usage persist in practice. Achmad Rofiqi, the Deputy Chairman for Public Relations and Education at the Indonesian Electric Vehicle Industry Association (Periklindo), stated that various challenges faced by EV users are often relayed through communities to the government via the association. He noted that one key issue is the ferry service for inter-island crossings. Some EV users from the community have reportedly been denied boarding on ferries. Rofiqi explained that Indonesia still lacks a consistent understanding of electric vehicle characteristics, leading to difficulties for some users when attempting to use ferry services. ‘Looking at regulations in Europe and other countries, electric vehicles are permitted to cross ferries, but there are stipulations that battery capacity should be limited to 15-20 per cent, meaning they cannot be fully charged,’ he said. ‘This is to minimise risks in case of an incident, as fire hazards are harder to manage when batteries are fully charged,’ he added. ‘This situation arises due to a lack of understanding regarding electric vehicles,’ Rofiqi said. Rofiqi stressed the importance of the government studying best practices from other countries, particularly regarding safety standards for electric vehicles in maritime transport. ‘Even regarding safety, some of our members already have specialised lithium battery fire extinguishers,’ Rofiqi said. ‘Such equipment can be placed on ferries and crossing facilities as an initial response measure in case of fire,’ he added.