Eye on Asia | Indonesia’s move towards electric vehicles and clean energy will be slow but rewarding
- As Southeast Asia’s biggest vehicle market and a major supplier of nickel, a key battery ingredient, Indonesia sees great potential in electric vehicles
- But its current dependence on fossil fuel and lack of infrastructure support pose a massive challenge
This is roughly half the number in China – which has about five times Indonesia’s population – and has been steadily increasing every year. Indonesia’s motorised vehicle population grew 5.3 per cent in the year to 2019, after growing by 5.9 per cent the year before. Motorbikes make up about 84 per cent of vehicles, followed by private passenger cars at 11.6 per cent, then cargo vehicles and buses at barely 4 per cent.
With the pandemic lockdown and social distancing restrictions, fewer vehicles have been on the road. This could help generate the momentum to move towards electric vehicles. Although a relatively new concept in Indonesia, electric vehicles have long been in the global spotlight and there are now more than 7 million electric vehicles worldwide, nearly half of which are in China.
As more countries join the energy transition, the global electric vehicle market is developing rapidly. This can be seen in the increased funding, soft and hard infrastructure to support electric vehicles, public awareness, supply chain management, business schemes and government policies for manufacturers and consumers.
