With the recent growth of electric cars, some argue that fossil fuel cars should be banned. However, I disagree with this statement because fully replacing gas-powered cars would require proper infrastructure for the charging stasions. Additionally, the environmental benefits of the electric cars have not been properly research yet, considering it to be a relatively new technology.
In order to completely exclude the use of fossil-fueled cars, charging stations should be easily accessible to electric cars users. For instance, in Jakarta there are only a few charging stations available, mainly in large shopping malls, apartment buildings and office spaces located in the city center. One possible solution is for individuals to install their own charging point at home, but this also leads to another challange. Most residental areas in Indonesia are powered with only 2,200 volts, whereas installingl an electric charging port requires at least 4.400 voltage. Necessary adjustments would be required to enable vehicle charging at home, which may not be possible for non-home ownersliving in rental housing.
Despite their claimed of environmental benefit, electric vehicles still required mining processes. Nickel is the main material for electric cars, and its mining process can potentially harm the environment. For example, Tesla recently made an agreement with the Indonesian goverment toestablish a nickel mine. As a result, major deforestation has occurred to clear space for the mine and to build new infrastructure for nickel transportion.
In conclusion, completely replacing the most commonly used vehicles to the electric-powered onces would be challenging due to the lack of infrastructure and uncertain enviromental benefits. Instead, the focus should be on balancing vehicle and maximizingf public transport to address this issue.