It all began a few weeks ago when all the petrol stations ran dry. I was up at Candidasa, and on the way back to Ubud every station sported a hand-written sign ‘HABIS’ at the entrance. It got me thinking about how very inconvenient life would be without wheels.
My friend Kathy has been muttering under her breath about electric bicycles ever since I met her seven years ago. Recently she announced that they were now being assembled in Indonesia and a few were actually available in Ubud. Affordable electric bikes and motorbikes have arrived, just in time to keep us from choking to death on traffic fumes. My staff and I tracked down the tiny dealership and went in with a list of searching questions. They had the newest model -- a sporty looking electric motorcycle with two batteries. Nyoman took it for a spin, and I left him bargaining with the owner. The next morning he drove up (silently) on my new steed.
Although it seemed like a bit of an impulse buy, the electric option had been on my mind for a long time. Besides the fuel issue, Ubud’s once-clean air grows more polluted by the day. (Emissions, caused not only by the steeply increasing number of motorcycles and cars, are made worse by the recent invasion of huge tourist buses which spew their stinking fumes into the streets and cause endless traffic jams on our village’s tiny roads. But that’s another story…)
I have to admit that the new purchase unnerved me at first. The last time I’d driven a motorcycle was on the almost-deserted roads of the east coast of Malaysia… could it be almost 40 years ago? It doesn’t sound like much if you say it quickly, but the comparison with Ubud’s busy streets of today was daunting. I hadn’t even been on a bicycle since then. It took me several days to find the audacity to actually get on the thing. It’s garnet red and rather flashy looking (I am more drawn to the profile of a Lambretta), with a decal of a wildly racing horse on the front. I felt a stately donkey would be more appropriate, and christened it Eyore.
Wayan tied an offering around one mirror and I augmented this with a stick of incense, some flowers from the garden and an ardent prayer that all journeys on this new addition would be safe ones. That done, Wayan unlocked the imported bicycle chain, wheeled Eyore into the lane, showed me where the accelerator and brake were and waved me rather apprehensively aboard.
I set off, wobbling alarmingly, along the deserted lane with Wayan trotting anxiously alongside. (And had a flashback half a century to my very first experience on a two-wheeler with my nervous father standing by.) I managed to stall poor Eyore, hauled him around and went up the other way with a particularly exciting wobble that made Wayan shriek. Pak Mangku came out to see what the excitement was all about and called for his wife to hurry and see Ibu learning to drive a motorcycle. Up and down the lane I teetered before an increasing audience of neighbours, small children, chickens and dogs, hanging on very hard and squeaking pathetically at intervals. It was all quite humbling. The speedometer hovered between 5 and 10 km hour, which seemed unnecessarily brisk. The brake and accelerator were fiendishly close together and I soon demonstrated that it was quite possible to activate both of them at the same time.
I had to go lie down after that while Wayan stabled Eyore. But from then on I took an increasingly confident turn up and down the lane every evening. Finally I careened left at the top of the lane and daringly teetered along the gang to the temple parking lot, where I went round and round under the jaded eyes of the men who always gathered late in the day to eat spicy pork satay and tell each other lies.
It was evident that Eyore had already been the subject of some discussion in the neighbourhood. I pulled up next to a group of young guys who were trimming the temple garden, and they were full of questions. Was it imported? How fast would it go? Was it true that it needed no petrol or oil? What did it cost to recharge the batteries? And -- most importantly -- did it not require registration or a drivers license?
They were surprised to learn that the machines are now assembled in Java and retail at half the price of a new conventional motorcycle. My model, the Trekko Nexus, had two batteries and could scream along at 40 kmp on the flat, about 25 kph on hills. (I believe a passenger would slow things down considerably.) This is fine with me; I’m seldom out of second gear even in the car. It is said to travel over 100 km before the batteries need charging, which costs in the neighbourhood of Rp 1500. I’m exploring a solar option for this. The only sound is a low hum. And it’s true... these machines are considered electric bicycles and currently require neither a SIM nor registration. This enchants my staff, who envision themselves sailing silently past the early morning roadblocks thumbing their noses at the police.
Eyore is smartly designed to look just like a motorcycle, which is actually a bit of a disadvantage as other drivers expect it to have a motorcycle’s speed and agility; it does not. It’s a bit awkward on corners. And it’s so quiet no one hears it coming, although it sports a loud horn.
I think Eyore is just the second electric vehicle in Ubud. Charlotte bought an electric bicycle three months ago and swears by it. “It’s a perfect compromise for getting around town,” she says. “On a gradual hill with a full charge, you don’t even need to pedal. It will go 30 kph on the flat. I recharge it every 30 - 40 km, which costs about Rp 800. I believe the new model can carry two people. It would be great if hotels and businesses would use them for errands around Ubud to reduce pollution.”
There are a number of models of both electric bicycles and motorcycles available, ranging in cost from about Rp 3,000,000 to Rp 6,300,000. Most of the Balinese who see them are very interested, which bodes well for our air quality in future. The current models aren’t strong enough to tackle long journeys or steep mountains, but for town transport or short forays into the countryside, they are perfect.
I took my maiden voyage into Ubud early the other morning before the traffic was heavy. Soon I found myself roaring along at 20 kph with the wind in my hair, bugs in my teeth and a big grin on my face. My electric adventure is just beginning.
