BYD’s arrival to Indonesia is expected to help electrify taxi fleets. At least that’s what Indonesia’s largest taxi operator, PT Blue Bird, thinks.
“We are very happy that BYD is now investing in Indonesia. We hope very soon the price of electric vehicles will be reduced significantly,” said Noni Purnomo, the President Commissioner at Bluebird Group Holdings.
According to Bloomberg, PT Blue Bird launched electric taxis in its fleet in 2019. It had about 23,000 vehicles in its fleet by the end of 2023, and EVs accounted for only 1% of its available cars. Based on that information, Blue Bird has yet to significantly increase the amount of EVs in its fleet.
“We have been lagging in our implementation of electric vehicles. At this moment the price for us is about three-and-a-half times of the combustion engine,” explained Purnomo.
BYD’s arrival in Indonesia might push other automakers in the market to launch more affordable vehicles. The Chinese automaker has a reputation for selling the most affordable battery electric vehicles in the global car market.
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