Guerrilla Innovation in Developing National Electric Car

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Prototype electric vehicles, including a motorcycle and a multipurpose cargo vehicle, are exhibited on Tuesday (31/7/2018) at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) in Jakarta. The BPPT continues to improve its testing of electric vehicles, charging stations, chargers and batteries. The domestic industry is also involved in manufacturing electric vehicle components.

Engineers are working tirelessly on developing a national car, despite the lack of regulatory support. At the dawn of the electric vehicle era, many are engaging in guerilla work to achieve national independence in the production of electric cars.

Nur Yunarto and his team at the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) in Surabaya are diligently working to develop an electric vehicle. Automotive researchers at the University of Indonesia (UI) and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) are conducting separate research on electric cars and buses. At Surakarta’s Sebelas Maret University (UNS), automotive researchers are getting ready to produce battery cells as part of the domestic manufacturing industry of electric vehicles.

They are the new hopes of the nation’s automotive industry, which has largely depended on foreign companies for more than 130 years.

Indonesia Automotive Institute (IAI) president Made Dana Tangkas said that no real technology transfer had ever occurred from foreign car factories to the national automotive industry.

“The technologies that were transferred are merely skin-deep, such as manufacturing doors. There has never been any research and development into the [domestic] automotive industry. The principal countries have retained the key technologies,” said Made.

Gesits

A building of ITS’ industrial design department that was formerly used for lectures now serves as the headquarters of its National Electric Car Development Team led by Nur, comprising ITS lecturers and 20 students. The building houses research labs for manufacturing electric vehicles and major components.

A prototype electric scooter the team made is currently being prepared for mass production. The 5-kilowatt electric scooter, named Gesits, can travel up to 100 kilometers on a single charge. Engineered and designed entirely by Nur and his team, the scooter has five major components: a 5 kW electric motor, a 100 V electric motor control system with a maximum current of 5 amps, a battery management system, a monitoring system, a chassis and transmission.

Nur said that, because it used an electric motor, the scooter no longer used some components that were commonly found in conventional motorbikes, such as an exhaust pipe and an oil filter. “What is certain is that the vehicle has zero emission. It does not use oil at all,” he said. At the current electricity rates, it costs Rp 1,500 (US 10 cents) per kW to recharge the scooter’s battery.

State-owned enterprises and local investors, including PT Garansindo and PT Wika Industri dan Konstruksi, are to be involved in the Gesits’ mass production. The two companies have formed a joint venture with PT Gesits Technologies Indo, with the support of state-owned weapons manufacturer PT Pindad.

State oil and gas giant PT Pertamina has committed to providing charging stations for electric vehicles. Pertamina vice president of corporate communications Adiatma Sardjito said the company had prepared a prototype charging station in Kuningan, Jakarta. “The charging price follows [state electricity company] PT PLN’s rate of Rp 1,400 per kW,” he said.

Despite the seemingly smooth progress in researching and developing electric vehicles and automotive batteries, this has not been the case in terms of government support, particularly regarding the Industry Ministry. A draft Presidential Regulation on accelerated electric vehicle development has been on the table since August 2017 and its deliberation remains unfinished. Among the causes of the delay is that the Industry Ministry does not agree with one stipulation in the regulation, that the government cease all sales of fossil fuel vehicles by 2040.

Despite domestic research having advanced electric vehicle development, the Industry Ministry remains trapped within an old mindset. The ministry’s maritime, transportation and defense equipment industries director Putu Juli Ardika said the ministry was simply following the Indonesian Automotive Industry Roadmap. The roadmap outlines national automotive development starting with low-emission vehicles and on to bioenergy-fueled vehicles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and finally, electric vehicles.

Bioenergy-fueled vehicles use internal combustion engines, much like fossil-fueled vehicles do. So do hybrid vehicles. The technology needed for these two vehicle types are mostly controlled by foreign automotive companies.

Putu said that the ministry would cooperate with Toyota and Mitsubishi to develop hybrid vehicles. “Our policy stipulates that we develop hybrids first,” he insisted.

National Electric Vehicle Developers Association chairman Soekotjo Herupramono said that government support in national electric vehicle development was necessary, not only in research, but also in regulations for applying the research towards creating downstream businesses. “[The domestic electric vehicle industry] is still in its infancy. It is still very young and, therefore, desperately needs government support,” he said.

In contrast, Putu said that it was not worth developing electric vehicles, as the supporting charging infrastructure did not yet exist.

In the easternmost province of Papua, the electric motorcycle market is growing organically due to a fuel scarcity. The electric motorcycles distributed by bicycle manufacturer Wim Cycle under its Wim Motor brand are highly popular in Agats, Asmat regency. Wim Motor sales and marketing agent Wenson said that the electric motorcycles had been sold in Agats since 2009. However, the Wim Motor electric motorcycles are not made locally, and are imported from China.

(ADY/BKY/MDN)