The Blue Bird Group, Indonesia's largest taxi operator, adds two new electric vehicle models to its fleet in the greater Jakarta area. (Photo: JakartaGlobe)Jakarta (VNA) – The Blue BirdGroup, Indonesia's largest taxi operator, has added two new electric vehicle models to its fleet in the greater Jakartaarea.
This move makes the firm thefirst taxi operator in Southeast Asia to employ such environmentally-friendlycars.
In the initial stage, it introduced 25Chinese-made BYD e6 all-electric compact multi-purpose vehicles, which willoperate as regular Blue Bird taxis, and five Tesla Model X 75D mid-sizeall-electric luxury sport utility vehicles for its upmarket Silver Birdservice.
The group plans to increase itselectric vehicle fleet to 200 by next year as it seeks to contribute to effortsto improve air quality in the Indonesian capital city. It has calculated that its adoptionof electric vehicles can eliminate over 434 tonnes of carbon dioxide and save 1.89 million liters of fuel per year.
The taxi company, established in1976, has installed 11 charging stations at its headquarters in Mampang, southJakarta.
The company's drivers spend onaverage 100,000 IDR, or 7 USD, on fuel per day, while it currently only costs about 30,000 IDR for a full battery charge, whichgives the e-taxis an equivalent range of 400 kilometres.
The Blue Bird’srevenue has plunged in recent years in the wake of stiff competition fromride-hailing service providers Go-Jek and Grab. In April, the group announcedit will invest about 2.83 million USD in a electric taxi project./.
