Online Taxi Drivers Claim Savings on Costs by Using Electric Cars

The arrival of pure electric vehicles (battery electric vehicles/BEVs) is being felt by various groups, including online taxi drivers.

An online taxi driver using a pure electric vehicle, Kholid Syaifulloh (51), believes that switching from conventional cars to an electrified fleet provides very significant savings in operational costs for daily income.

“So I’ve experienced switching cars over three generations of taxi sedans. Roughly, the daily operational costs now are only 35 percent of a petrol car,” said Kholid.

Kholid, who has 15 years of experience driving internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, claims to be more at ease facing risks of fuel price volatility or shortages.

Although it requires charging time, the cost efficiency achieved far outweighs the operational burden of the Pertalite-fuelled vehicle he used previously.

With a daily mileage of 350 km from Bekasi to the heart of the Capital, Kholid applies an effective charging time strategy with total costs not reaching Rp100,000.

The use of fast charging features available at various strategic points helps him maintain maximum daily productivity.

“Using this EV is very beneficial because the operational costs are stable. With proper time management during charging, I can still pick up passengers optimally without being burdened by expensive petrol costs,” he said.