Indonesian government will subsidise the sales of 200,000 electric motorcycles and the conversion of 50,000 combustion engine motorcycles this year. (Photo: autonetmagz) Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesia will provide incentives to boost sales of battery-based electric vehicles (KBLBB) starting March 20, as part of efforts to encourage the use of this type of vehicle and attract investment into domestic production, a senior cabinet minister has said.
Speaking at a press conference on March 6, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan said the use of KBLBB will help promote sustainable development by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building a domestic battery industry, thereby creating jobs and increasing budget revenue.
Meanwhile, head of the Fiscal Policy Agency under the Ministry of Finance Febrio Kacaribu announced that the government will subsidise the sales of 200,000 electric motorcycles and the conversion of 50,000 combustion engine motorcycles this year. The support for each vehicle is 7 million Rp (457 USD).
The programme is only applied to domestically produced motorcycles with a localisation rate of 40% or more. Manufacturers of electric motorcycles that meet this criteria are not allowed to increase their selling prices during the support period and commit to producing a sufficient number of vehicles for the programme.
According to Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Rida Mulyana, KBLBB can help users and government save 2.77 million Rp and 32.7 billion Rp respectively per year, while reducing 0.03 million tons of greenhouse gases and increase employment, although electricity consumption will increase by 15.2 GWh per year.
Earlier in January, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affair Airlangga Hartarto said Indonesia may allocate 5 trillion Rp from this year’s budget to encourage people to buy electric vehicles (EVs).
According to Airlangga, Indonesia targets 20% of EVs in overall car sales in 2025. Companies that have invested or have announced planned investments in EV manufacturing in Indonesia include Toyota Motor Corp, Mitsubishi Motors Corp and Hyundai Motor Co./.
