Surabaya (ANTARA) - The Surabaya city government in East Java will start using electric vehicles (EVs) in stages from 2023.
Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi said that his administration will replace operational vehicles that use fuel oil with electric vehicles in 2023.
"At the initial stage, the operational vehicle that will be replaced is a motorcycle," he informed in Surabaya on Friday.
He said that his administration has coordinated and conveyed a request to the prosecutor's office for assistance regarding the transfer to electric vehicles.
"By God's will, the Surabaya city government's operational will start using two-wheeled electric vehicles. We will sell the previous ones through auction, then use the money to buy the electric ones," he added.
He said that his administration has submitted the plan for the switch to the Ministry of Transportation. Later, the ministry will prepare tutors to make the plan a success.
In addition, the Surabaya Police Traffic Corps will also help arrange the EV documents, Cahyadi added.
"This aims to support the central government's program and also to reduce pollution in Surabaya. The use of electric vehicles can also save budget," the mayor said.
Meanwhile, head of the Regional Financial and Asset Management Agency (BPKAD), Surabaya, Ira Tursilowati, explained that the bases for the policy on the use of EVs in Surabaya are Presidential Instruction Number 7 of 2022, Home Affairs Minister Regulation Number 19 of 2016, Article 346, and Presidential Regulation Number 33 of 2020.
"Based on the regulation, the mayor plans to convert operational vehicles into electric vehicles in 2023," she added.
She further informed that currently, there are 4,486 official vehicles in the Surabaya city government, consisting of 77 cars for officials, 2,665 motorcycles, and 725 cars.
"We also have non-operational vehicles in the form of 67 ambulances, 485 trucks, and 467 others," Tursilowati said.
She later provided details on the current condition of motorized vehicles owned by the Surabaya city government. According to her, there are 1,381 two-wheeled vehicles that are in good and poor condition and aged seven years and over. Moreover, there are 509 vehicles in severely damaged condition, some 764 vehicles are less than seven years old and in good and poor condition, and there are 11 heavily damaged vehicles that are less than under 7 years old.
"At this early stage, we will auction off as many as 520 two-wheeled vehicles whose conditions have been seriously damaged, and later we will replace them with electric two-wheeled vehicles," she informed.
