Fast track: Motorists are seen stuck in the morning rush hour traffic in Jakarta. The Indonesian government has been pushing for the faster adoption of EVs nationwide, aiming to get at least 1.2 million electric motorcycles and 35,000 electric cars on roads by 2024. — AP
JAKARTA: Electric vehicle (EV) producers are confident that the planned subsidy for purchasing electric cars and electric motorcycles will drive EV sales in Indonesia.
Tenggono Chuandra Phoa, secretary-general of the Indonesian Electric Vehicle Industry Association or Periklindo, told The Jakarta Post that the subsidy would significantly increase the EV adoption rate.
According to Tenggono, assuming that an electric motorcycle costs 22 million rupiah (RM6,242), the planned purchase subsidy of 6.5 million rupiah (RM1,833) per vehicle would reduce the cost of an electric motorcycle to less than the price of a comparable fuel-powered motorcycle, which generally cost around 18 million rupiah (RM5,075).
“The challenge now is to formulate the most effective technical guidance to ensure that the subsidy is on target and that its disbursement is entirely transparent to the public,” he added.
Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the government was finalising the purchase subsidy scheme of around 6.5 million rupiah per electric motorcycle to drive sales across the country. He added that a similar purchase subsidy scheme for cars was being considered, but did not provide any details.
“If you want to swap your fuel-powered motorcycle for an electric one next year, do it. You will get a subsidy,” Luhut told a banking forum hosted by online media Katadata and broadcast live on Nov 29.
Amid the high prices of gasoline and diesel fuel, the government has been pushing for the faster adoption of EVs nationwide, aiming to get at least 1.2 million electric motorcycles and 35,000 electric cars on roads by 2024.
Earlier this year, it announced a goal to increase the number of electric car owners to 500,000 within four years. To that end, it issued a presidential instruction in September for all state institutions and their regional offices to shift to EVs and for state-owned electricity company PLN to ramp up the number of charging stations across the country.
Taufiek Bawazier, the Industry Ministry’s director-general of the metals, machinery, transportation equipment and electronics industries, said only 3,317 four-wheeled EVs, 21,668 two-wheeled EVs and 274 three-wheeled EVs were on the roads as of Sept 8. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
