In Electric Dreams

We took a ride in one of the environmentally friendly compressed natural gas (CNG) fueled blue bajajs yesterday. It cost a couple of thousand rupiah more than the ancient Indian imports which pollute our back streets with noise and noxious fumes, but the comfort, both for we passengers and, more importantly, the driver, was worth it.

Pic. fr. the always good Gangs of Indonesia blog

That the Jakarta government is now seemingly serious in ridding the streets of the old ones, by next year they say, is to be applauded.

But ... and there's always a 'but' in Indonesia ... , this programme, part of a so-called Blue Sky initiative, was first promulgated over three years ago and, even now, the Jakarta Transportation Agency is taking no responsibility for the next steps of the transition.

Problem number one is that most bajaj drivers rent their vehicles and the new blue ones are still subject to a 45 percent “luxury goods” tax and are therefore a darn sight more expensive. Those drivers who own their own will face going into debt or returning to their home villages where casual work may well be more scarce than here in Jakarta.

Secondly, CNG is only sold at six fuel pumps in Jakarta (or is it five?). The government plans to construct 26 CNG stations in Jakarta "starting" this year but in the meantime the state-owned fuel company Pertamina has plans to provide four mobile-tanker CNG stations, each expected to carry around 6,000 liters of CNG, which is enough to fill the tanks of 50 buses.

Yes, drivers of the new bajajs will be queuing up behind the 520 (as of the end of last year) TransJakarta Busway buses in operation. There may be a few taxis in the queue, but not having seen a Kosti Jaya for a while, it may be that they are no longer operating, and any that were fueled by CNG, such as Blue Bird, have apparently reverted to regular petroleum.

Why is it that the powers-that-be lack the foresight to peer beyond their squat noses and think of the consequences of their decisions? How often do we read of decisions not being turned into deeds and policy U-turns?

And why did none of them read my post from six years ago when I first advocated an environmentally safe replacement for the bajaj: an electric version with rechargeable batteries such as used in the UK for some fifty years. It's little known that in the early days of motoring, there were more electric vehicles than there were gasoline-powered cars.

Of course, as some would correctly argue, tapping into the power grid to recharge batteries entails accessing electricity produced by fossil fuels. However, there is still a positive outcome: the vehicles do not themselves produce noxious fumes which contribute to global warming.Now, taking the notion a step, and six years, further, there is yet another alternative: a solar powered.people carrier with batteries recharged from solar-panels fitted on the roof.

Erm, maybe not. Those solar panels would only produce 400 or 800 watts, enough to power a small fan.But, what if a car port were fitted with solar panels which would recharge replaceable batteries?

The good news is that the state electricity company PLN seems to be committed to building a number of solar power plants (PLTS) on 100 islands of Indonesia. Dahlan Iskan, Chief Director of PLN, said that the construction will be completed by the end of the year.These powerv plants would serve local needs, and could be just as useful in local areas of Jakarta, particularly if some of their megawattage were specifically allocated for electric vehicles.

All we need now is for some bright spark in PLN - no pun intended - to read this post, liaise with those creative souls in Solo who've developed an Indonesian 'people carrier' (but not yet anything remote from the internal combustion engine), and the faculty of the engineering school of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta who designed this electric golf buggy for campus use.

Then Sparky* needs to liaise with the Jakarta Transportation Agency to find someone with integrity willing to work for a salary without the usual perks who would oversee the development of the infrastructure for electric vehicles whilst attracting government funding and, hey presto, we'd have a socially viable form of transport quietly plying our streets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wasn't it the most amazing meeting
Surrounded by those monsters from the deep
You started telling me a funny story, and I fell asleep
Oh, Wot a dream that was!
Kevin Ayers: Oh, Wot a dream

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*Jakarta needs a visionary with integrity. So far all the indicators are that Joko Widodo, the current mayor of Solo and now a candidate for the governorship of Jakarta, is just what this city needs.