According to the article that I have read, the government aiming to mass produce 10,000 electric cars
in 2014. As
part of the government policy to limit fuel subsidies, they have once planned
to promote the use of gas for the transportation. However, electric cars are
more likely to answer the problem of the increasing of fuel subsidies that is
caused by the increasing fossil fuel consumption. Moreover, along with public
awareness of global warming and the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, the
use of electric cars in our transportation system looks unavoidable.
 |
| Tesla Roadster recharging Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/ |
The writer of the article which I read also wrote that one of the social benefits of
electric cars as compared to fossil-fueled cars, is to reduce air
pollution. This can further result in improving public health quality. However, the level of pollution will not decrease when there is not enough power resource to be utilized by electric cars
and other electric devices needed by households and industries. Electricity,
which is used to reduce air pollution in industrial activities, will instead be used to power electric cars. In addition, if electric cars get electricity from power plants that rely on fossil
fuels, then the argument that electric cars are environmentally friendly cannot be accepted. If that occurs, it only replaces fossil fuel consumption from power
plants to electric cars. Moreover, if the government really wants to develop electrical energy for our transportation
system, they should start from generating electrical energy that should already
be environmentally friendly and sustainable, which results in the form of
convenient and reliable electric mass transportation.
In my opinion, the electricity infrastructure is not yet ready to support electric cars for personal use. Based on the illustration from
other article that I read, the installed capacity of the domestic power resource reaches around 5,000 kWh annualy,
while the power resource needed by households is around 4,500 kWh annualy. If there
are 1,000 units of electric cars operated by an average power of 5-10 kWh, the installed capacity should reach about 9,500 annualy. This
means that the government should build new power plants to meet the increased
power requirements up to twice of the installed capacity. How about the increased power requirements for 10,000 units of electric cars which is the aim of the
government in 2014?
Besides, the power plants in Indonesia are generally
operated by environmentally unfriendly energy such as coals and petroleum. This
makes electric cars become environmentally unfriendly, just like the conventional cars. This is because the
new power plants that are built to meet the power requirements to operate
electric cars will increase the level of air pollution. In conclusion, I agree with the writer; if the government
wants to use electric cars in our transportation system, they should start from
generating environmentally friendly electrical energy.
