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Indonesian
scientists have unveiled an electric car that they claim can travel 150
kilometers on a single charge, further than most electric city cars available
today.
Two
prototypes of the car were rolled out on Thursday at the National Monument
(Monas) Park in Central Jakarta by researchers from the Agency for the
Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) and the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences (LIPI).
“This car
is fueled entirely by electricity and is not a hybrid vehicle,” said Agus
Hoetman, an adviser to Research and Technology Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta.
“We are
currently testing it for urban use,” he said, adding that the car was
particularly suited for the stop-start driving pattern in a congested city
environment.
“This car
saves energy because there are no parts in the engine that need to keep moving
when the car is stationary during a traffic jam. That’s different from
gasoline-fueled cars,” he said.
Agus said
the car had a range of up to 150 kilometers on a single charge, further than
the 60-145 kilometers currently available from electric cars with a top speed
of less than 100 kilometers an hour.
He said
that in a recent test, the researchers almost managed to complete a round trip
from Jakarta to Bandung on a single charge. The distance each way is about 130
kilometers.
Hatta
previously said the government was earmarking Rp 100 billion ($10.6 million)
for the development of an Indonesian-built electric car by four state
universities. He said the universities were expected to present their designs
soon, before production could begin sometime in 2014.
The
minister also said that LIPI had been allocated Rp 1.2 trillion to develop an
electric minibus capable of carrying up to 16 passengers.
