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Blue Bird to add 600 electric taxis this year
Blue Bird is planning to expand its EV fleet to 1,000 by the end of 2025 toward a total composition of 10 percent in the next five years, amid growing competition in the taxi market and steady EV adoption in the country.
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A driver looks at his smartphone July 13, 2022, while waiting for his electric taxi to recharge at Bluebird Group’s Mampang Prapatan pool in South Jakarta. (Antara/Galih Pradipta)
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axi operator PT Blue Bird plans to procure another 600 electric vehicles (EVs) to grow its electric fleet to 1,000 by the end of this year.
The publicly listed company has steadily grown its EV fleet from 125 cars in 2022 to 192 in 2023, and then to 400 last year. It aims to have EVs make up 10 percent of its entire fleet by 2030.
“This year, we’re targeting 1,000 electric taxis through investment credit, which will account for around four to five percent of our total fleet,” Blue Bird president director Adrianto Djokosoetono said on Thursday, as quoted by Kompas.com, though he did not disclose the amount of the investment.
Adrianto said EVs were more expensive than conventional vehicles and that battery performance tended to decline after five years. As such, the company was assessing the long-term value of each car and their resale options in the secondary market.
Blue Bird’s current EV fleet includes models from BMW, Hyundai and BYD, but it remains open to sourcing vehicles from other manufacturers.
The company has decided to ramp up EV adoption amid intensified competition, particularly following the entry of Vietnamese taxi company Xanh SM to the Indonesian market late last year.
Xanh SM plans to deploy around 1,000 fully electric taxis supplied by its affiliate, automaker VinFast, which is also eyeing a major infrastructure push in Indonesia.
