The Indonesian Government is currently putting incentives and infrastructure facilities in place in order to accelerate the development of electric vehicles in Indonesia.
Achieving this requires the harmonisation of regulations as well as coordination with concerned stakeholders.
According to a recent press release, the development of electric vehicles is one of the government’s commitments to address the problem of greenhouse gas, such as carbon dioxide.
The Minister of Industry explained that using electric vehicles will follow through on the government’s commitment to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions by 29% in 2030.
Aside from this, they will be able to maintain energy security particularly in the land transportation sector.
Moreover, the global trends for future vehicles are energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
Using electric vehicles will reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuel energy.
As such, Indonesia’s dependence on imported fuel will also be lessened, giving the country a potential savings of US$ 56.7 billion (IDR 798 trillion).
The Minister stressed that they have developed a roadmap for the development of the national automotive industry.
They are focusing on boosting the production of Low Carbon Emission Vehicles (LCEV) and electric vehicles.
They are targeting that by 2025, electric cars make up an estimated 20% of around 2 million units of cars produced domestically. The percentage amounts to around 400,000 units.
In addition, they are also targeting to produce 2 million electric motorbikes units by 2025.
Thus, strategic steps have been prepared, in stages, allowing them to achieve production of electric cars and motorbikes that are at par with the domestic and export markets.
One of the keys to the development of electric vehicles is battery technology.
The Minister highlighted that Indonesia is a source for the raw materials needed for manufacturing battery components, such as laterite nickel.
As such, the government have laid the stones for the construction of a joint venture factory at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) region, in Central Sulawesi.
The factory is expected to produce 50,000 tons of nickel hydroxide intermediate products, 150,000 tons of nickel sulfate crystals, 20,000 tons of cobalt sulfate crystal batteries, and 30,000 tons of manganese sulfate crystal batteries.
Indonesian President Jokowi stressed that the development of electric vehicles should involve the private sector.
This sector should carry out research activities as well as the construction of the necessary infrastructures.
Moreover, the country’s human resources should be equipped with the skills to master the latest technologies.
Small and Medium Industries, on their part, should be given the opportunity to produce electric vehicle parts and components.
The automotive industry is one of the sectors that are given priority in Indonesia for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0.
This takes into account the readiness of the industry to produce electric vehicles as well as the manufacturing of its spare parts and components.
