Strengthening The Electric Vehicle Ecosystem, PLN Will Provide 4,900 SPBKLU

PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo is committed to supporting Grab Indonesia's operations. (photo: doc. PLN)

JAKARTA - PT PLN (Persero) is committed to supporting Grab Indonesia's operations in using 8,500 electric vehicles, mostly motorcycles, by providing a General Electric Vehicle Battery Exchange Station (SPBKLU). The plan is that as many as 4,900 SPBKLU units will be operated by 2022.

PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo said PLN was committed to providing facilities to make it easier for users of electric vehicles, both four-wheeled and two-wheeled, to charge their vehicles with electrical energy. So that the electric vehicle ecosystem in Indonesia is increasingly being built.

"People who want to use electric vehicles don't have to worry about charging their electricity later if they run out of power on the road. PLN has committed to providing charging facilities in various places," Darmawan said in an official statement, Sunday, July 17.

Darmawan revealed, specifically for users of two-wheeled electric vehicles, PLN plans to build SPBKLU in all regions in stages, for 2022 PLN plans to operate 4,900 SPBKLU units with a prediction of 89,400 users of two-wheeled electric vehicles and 59,600 thousand users of swap batteries.

Darmawan also confirmed that the first prototype or SPBKLU can be used at the E-mobility event on July 24, 2022.

"The number of SPBKLU will continue to grow, until 2030 it is planned that the facility will reach 68,800 units with a prediction that the number of two-wheeled electric vehicle users will reach 2.1 million units," said Darmawan.

According to Darmawan, with the SPBKLU, users of two-wheeled electric vehicles can simply exchange their batteries to the SPKBLU and no longer need to wait for an electric charge. This is one proof that the use of electric vehicles is more efficient than fossil fuel vehicles.

"So the concept is very easy, electric motor users just need to come to the SPBKLU and then exchange the battery with one that is fully charged and ready to use," explained Darmawan.

Darmawan said, to accelerate the construction of SPBKLU, PLN also opened up opportunities for cooperation with the private sector. This is also an opportunity to open a new business.

In this collaboration, potential partners can act as providers of electric vehicle charging facilities, providers of land and property, and providers of SPBKLU operations and maintenance.

"We want to make this electric vehicle ecosystem grow. We are open to working with interested entrepreneurs," he said.

For SPBKLU, currently there is cooperation between PLN and Swap and Volta. This number will continue to grow considering that there is still a collaboration process in the finalization stage.

In addition, PLN has also built the Electric Vehicle feature in the PLN Mobile application to make it easier for electric vehicle users. Through this feature, electric vehicle users just click the battery swab icon to find out the location of the nearest SPBKLU, the number of available batteries and directions to the SPBKLU location.

"This is all evidence of PLN's seriousness in supporting the development of electric vehicles in the country, both two-wheeled, three-, four-wheeled and buses," said Darmawan.