JAKARTA – The government through the Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita had revealed that incentives to purchase electric vehicles will be implemented by this year.
Incentive for purchasing an electric car is as much as Rp80 million, Rp8 million for electric motorcycles, Rp40 million for hybrid cars, and Rp5 million for electric convertibles.
Responding to this, the Vice Chairman of The House of Regional Representatives of Republic of Indonesia (DPD RI) Sultan B Najamudin reconsidered the subsidy policy sourced from the State Budget and proposed the government to implement a conventional car swap scheme with electric cars.
“In principle, we really appreciate the government’s efforts in planning the transition of energy and controlling global warming. However, the use of the State Budget for electric vehicle subsidies does not seem appropriate in the midst of the instability of the global economy,” said Sultan in his official statement on Saturday (25/2).
In addition, said Sultan, the explosion in the number of motorized vehicles in big cities has led to an increase in traffic jams.
Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that the number of motorized vehicles in Jakarta consistently increases every year.
In 2021, the number of vehicles in Jakarta reached around 21.75 million units, growing 7.6% from the previous year (year-on-year/yoy).
“That means that this subsidy policy does not need to burden fiscal resilience and allows for the circulation or distribution of vehicles from densely populated cities to areas that need more motorized vehicles. The burden on the state budget and the burden on roads in urban areas must be the main consideration for the government in this policy,” stated the former Deputy Governor of Bengkulu.
Therefore, continued the Sultan, we propose that a conventional car-exchange scheme with an electric car be implemented. The government, together with partners in the automotive industry, need to develop rules and patterns for the conversion and distribution of these vehicles.
“Currently the number of motorized vehicles in Indonesia has reached 152.51 million units, and nearly 60 percent of these vehicles are on the island of Java only. We want the distribution and ownership of these vehicles to be accessible to all groups, especially in rural areas, with affordable prices. So there will be an increased economic growth and utilization of road and bridge infrastructure that has been built by the government,” explained Senator Sultan.
Furthermore, Sultan explained that the electric vehicle trade-in scheme had also been implemented by neighboring countries such as Thailand. It’s not wrong for us to adopt this strategy in order to accelerate the energy transition in the transportation sector.
