Discussions on Converting 120 Million Motorcycles: Industry Highlights Scale of Subsidies

JAKARTA – The government’s desire to convert up to 120 million petrol-powered motorcycles to electric motorcycles has elicited varied responses from industry stakeholders. Polytron’s Commercial Director, Tekno Wibowo, believes the plan needs a more realistic assessment, particularly regarding the number of vehicles and budget readiness. He explained that the figure of 120 million units essentially represents the total population of motorcycles in Indonesia at present. Moreover, it is not certain that all owners would be willing or able to join the conversion programme to electric. On the other hand, Tekno views one of the main objectives of the plan as reducing the substantial burden of fuel subsidies (BBM) that has persisted. “My assumption is that the hope is to reduce BBM subsidies,” he said. “But if we assume, for example, how much would the subsidy be? Say Rp100 trillion, just talking hypothetically, the current BBM subsidy is already that,” Tekno stated. He then provided a simple illustration of the budget needs if subsidies were indeed provided per vehicle unit. “So, if we want to convert one motorcycle, how much to give? (For example) Rp5 million? That would only cover 20 million (units converted). Well, for 120 million (units), it would take how many times that, six times,” he said. It is worth noting that conversions from petrol motorcycles to electric have already been carried out through various government programmes, including subsidies to encourage electric vehicle adoption. However, the numbers remain relatively limited compared to the total population of two-wheeled vehicles in Indonesia. Therefore, the discourse on mass conversions on the scale of tens to hundreds of millions of units requires meticulous planning, both in terms of infrastructure, industry readiness, and financing schemes.