PLN Ambitious To Make SMK In Ruteng A Center For Electric Vehicle Development

Photos of SMK archives undergo the practice of converting fuel vehicles to electricity in Ruteng, NTT. (ANTARA/HO-PLN)

MATARAM - One of the SMKs in Ruteng, East Nusa Tenggara is now the target of PT PLN (Persero) the Nusa Tenggara Development Main Unit (UIP Nusra) to become a center for the development of electric vehicles (EV).

General Manager of PT PLN (Persero) UIP Nusra Abdul Nahwan through a written statement received in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, Thursday, said that the SMK targeted for the development of electric vehicles was St. Aloysius Private Vocational School in Ruteng, Manggarai Regency, NTT.

"To realize this target, PLN will propose SMK Santo Aloysius Ruteng to the Ministry of Transportation as a school that has a conversion workshop certificate, which is related to installation, assembly and inspection of electric vehicles," said Abdul, quoted from ANTARA, Thursday, May 9.

As a condition for obtaining a conversion workshop certificate, he explained, PLN will support SMK in terms of training for experts and conversion equipment.

If this target is achieved, as SMKN 3 Mataram has successfully obtained the first conversion workshop certificate in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), SMK Santo Aloysius Ruteng will also be the first school in NTT to become the center for electric vehicle development.

To realize this plan, Abdul said that in January 2024 PT PLN (Persero) UIP Nusra held a conversion training involving a number of vocational schools in the Flores Islands centered at SMK Santo Aloysius Ruteng.

The training for converting Battery-Based Electric Vehicles (KLBB) SMK Santo Aloysius Ruteng involved 15 teachers and representatives of 10 students for each vocational school and had given birth to two conversion vehicles from fuel to electricity.

In supporting the synergy vision of PT PLN (Persero) UIP Nusra together with SMK, Principal of SMK Santo Aloysius Ruteng, Bruder Dion said the school had opened technical motorcycle majors in the new school year 2024.

"When we have received training on the conversion of electric motorcycles, our responsibility is to propose a new major to the provincial education office and this year we have opened registration for motorcycle engineering majors," said Bruder Dion.

SMK Santo Aloysius Ruteng, said Bruder Dion, has high hopes of achieving the first certified official workshop target so that it can actively contribute to realizing the use of EVs in NTT.