Hyundai embraces the use of CNG
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.