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Govt announces hydrogen pilot project for transportation
The New and Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Directorate General has announced a hydrogen trial for buses, trucks and other heavy vehicles.
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Employees work on a hydrogen fuel cell at the commissioning of the Hydrogenics Cummins GmbH factory in Herten, western Germany, on March 3, 2022. (AFP/Ina Fassbender)
T
he Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has revealed details of a plan to trial the use of hydrogen as an environmentally friendly transportation fuel.
“In the transportation sector, we’re looking ahead to 2030. We believe there will be time to conduct a pilot project for [hydrogen] to be used in trucks, buses and other heavy vehicles,” the ministry’s New and Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Director General Eniya Listiani Dewi said on Thursday, as reported by news agency Antara.
She expressed hope that hydrogen-powered vehicles would play an important role in the future of environmentally friendly transportation, alongside biofuel and electric vehicles (EVs).
“What we’re hoping is that hydrogen-based vehicles will be part [of the future] as well,” she said, adding: “That’s the plan, [that there will be options of environmentally friendly vehicles], depending on the market.”
EV adoption in Indonesia still faces some challenges and has progressed at a slower pace than the government planned. One key initiative to convert conventional motorcycles into EV bikes has fallen far behind target.
While some have pointed to inadequate charging infrastructure as a reason for this slow uptake, it is not the key issue holding back EV adoption in Indonesia, one government official has said, pointing instead to a lack of affordable car models for would-be buyers.
The shortage of charging stations is a problem, but not a significant one, given that “there are not that many [electric] cars yet,” said Rachmat Kaimuddin, undersecretary for transportation and infrastructure at the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister, on March 19.
