Hyundai embraces the use of CNG
Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
PT Hyundai Indonesia Motor is ready to comply with the mandatory use of compressed natural gas (CNG) for public transportation vehicles, saying it has obtained licenses from the government to install converters on the cars it assembles at its Bekasi manufacturing plant.
"We have obtained licenses from the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration for our high-pressure cylinders and from the Ministry of Transportation's Directorate General on Land Transportation for the installation of the converter kits," Hyundai president director Jongkie D. Sugiarto told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
He said both Hyundai's cylinders and converters had been tested by government institutions and were now ready for marketing.
"We are ready to install the equipment on Hyundai cars sold to taxi operators," he said. "However, I cannot answer their questions about where to get the fuel."
At present, there are over 22,000 taxis operating in Jakarta. Hyundai has sold about 15,000 taxis nationwide, mainly in the capital.
Jongkie urged the Jakarta administration, state oil and gas company PT Pertamina and state-owned gas distributor PT PGN to ensure the smooth distribution of CNG to support newly endorsed City Bylaw No. 2/2005 on air pollution control.
The bylaw requires all public transportation vehicles to switch to CNG. However, it does not set a firm date for this switch, instead calling for the gradual enforcement of the requirement as vehicles are outfitted with converter kits and more CNG stations are opened.
"If CNG is available at, let's say, half of the existing gas stations in Greater Jakarta, public transportation operators -- be they taxis, public minivans or public buses -- will use CNG instead of fuel."
Currently, only six CNG gas stations are in operation in Jakarta, serving about 500 vehicles in total.
PGN Jakarta said on Tuesday CNG might still not be widely available in the capital next year due to an insufficient gas network.
Jongkie said that if CNG was more readily available, people would be willing to switch from fuel to CNG because of the price difference. Premium fuel costs Rp 2,400 per liter, while CNG is Rp 1,550 a liter.
"Assuming usage of 30 liters of fuel per day, a taxi driver could save up to Rp 25,000 (by switching to CNG)," he said. "The money saved could be used to pay for a converter kit, which cost Rp 11 million, in installments for one-and-a-half years, including interest."
Jongkie also said that if people switched to CNG, the government would be able to cut the fuel subsidy drastically.
Even after fuel prices were raised on March 1 by an average of 29 percent, with an oil price assumption of US$35 per barrel, the government will still have to pay Rp 39.7 trillion for the fuel subsidy this year.
A Sydney-based specialist in gas conversion, John Hartley, is currently working with PT Cakra Kalimas, of which Jongkie is a commissioner, to reengineer the converter kits to adapt them to the composition of the gas in Indonesia and the country's weather conditions.
"Indonesia's gas has a high carbon dioxide content and is 88 percent methane. It is good quality gas but compared to the U.S., where the methane is 98 percent and Australia 95 percent, the real question is how to get maximum engine performance," Hartley told the Post.
"The main problem here is the heat. When we tested the first generation of CNG-fueled buses back in 1997, the temperature of the engine reached 92 degrees Celsius. So we have to work out how to get maximum power without making the engine hot," said Hartley, who was involved in a CNG conversion project in New Delhi for two years.