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Blue Bird to roll out 200 electric taxis in 2020
Blue Bird has announced its intention to add 200 electric vehicles or e-taxis to its fleet this year.
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Blue Bird Group president director Noni Purnomo (left to right), Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi and PT Blue Bird Tbk director Andrianto Djokosoetono witness the debut of the company's electric taxi in Jakarta on April 22. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
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ublicly listed taxi company Blue Bird will add 200 electric vehicles or e-taxis to its fleet this year, a Blue Bird executive said on Thursday.
Blue Bird investor relations head Michael Tene said the firm currently had 30 e-taxis, namely 26 many by Chinese manufacturer BYD for its regular Blue Bird fleet and four US-made Tesla cars for its high-end Silver Bird services.
"We will still use BYD for our regular taxis and Tesla for our Silver Bird [service]. We plan to add 200 [e-taxis and] are still reviewing [the plan] to add more Silver Bird [taxis]," Michael said, as quoted by tempo.co.
The shares of the company, listed at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) under the code BIRD, jumped 1.92 percent as of 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Bloomberg data showed.
Overall, Blue Bird operated around 29,000 vehicles in 2019, including taxis, rental cars and buses, Michael added. The figure is almost identical to that of 2018.
Aside from beefing up its electric vehicle arsenal, the company would also focus on multi-purpose vehicles this year, a design that had proven increasingly appealing to customers, he said.
"For 2020, our vehicle purchases will depend on how many units we will replace as well as [...] market opportunities to develop our fleets for taxis, rental cars and buses," he added.
Blue Bird launched its first e-taxi at Blue Bird Group’s head office in South Jakarta to mark Earth Day on April 22.
The company invested less than Rp 40 billion (US$2.87 million) for the first 30 electric vehicles and supporting infrastructure. (mai)
