Success of the development of Indonesia electric vehicle industry heavily depends on domestic demands, price difference between electric vehicle (EV ) and Non EV and the availability of EV infrastructure and after sales maintenance, a senior government official said.
“Countries such as Japan, Germany and Italy have sufficient domestic demands that make their EV industry sustain,” Agus Cahyana, an Expert Staff to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), said on Friday, July 5, 2024.
“Japan for example, it can export their automotive industry, but it has strong domestic demand of 4-5 million EV cars. Their electric vehicle factories only treat their export markets as complementary,” he cited.
After domestic demand grows, Indonesia needs to attract more investment in EV sectors. To attract more investors, there are things that needs to be improved. One of them is the price difference between EV and non- EV. The government has issued a presidential decree in 2019 to address the issue to improve the market.
Besides the price issue, the government needs to provide equal treatment for fossil fuel-based vehicle and EV. Government needs to provide infrastructures such as charging stations in the EV ecosystem.
“It is impossible for the automotive industry, such as Hyundai, to provide EV’s infrastructure in all cities. So there must be cooperation between Hyundai and other parties. For now, we need to think of small charging stations, like PERTAMINI outlets for retail fuel sales, or mini-charging stations,” Agus said.
After price and ecosystem, the government needs to develop the after sales services and the purchase method.
“What we should think is for people to be able to buy electric vehicles in installments. It is exactly the same as the payment system for non-EV procurement. People can get a motorcycle by paying downpayment of just Rp 500.000,” Agus cited.
“So in order to participate in energy transition, and reduce CO2 emission, Indonesia needs to give equal treatment for EVs,” he concluded.
