How Much Electricity Would Indonesia Need to Go Fully Electric?

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia — The shift from petrol-powered vehicles to electric vehicles presents a new challenge for Indonesia’s electricity sector. Alongside preparing vehicles and charging stations, the government needs to calculate how much additional electricity would be required if electrification were carried out on a large scale.

Deputy Industry Minister Faisol Riza highlighted the large number of vehicles operating in Indonesia. This figure illustrates the scale of the work required if the government intends to promote electric vehicle use gradually over the coming decades.

“According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data, there were 172.94 million vehicles by the end of 2025. That 172.94 million includes motorbikes, three-wheelers, four-wheelers and vehicles with more than four wheels — altogether, more than 172 million,” Faisol said at the Periklindo Electric Vehicle Conference in Central Jakarta on Wednesday (28 October 2026).

Calculating energy requirements is an important part of this planning. Each vehicle’s electricity consumption will depend on its type, distance travelled, usage patterns and technological efficiency.

“If we take motorbikes alone, one motorbike uses 1,500 kWh a year. If we multiply that by the number of motorbikes, how many terawatt-hours would we need each year? The same goes for electric vehicles: if, for example, we multiply each passenger vehicle by 2,000 kWh, how many terawatt-hours of electricity would we need?” Faisol said.

The additional energy requirement must be calculated alongside projections for the growth in the number of electric vehicles. The calculation also needs to take into account charging times, areas where users are concentrated and the grid’s ability to deliver electricity across the country.

National electricity generation capacity is another factor to consider. Additional demand from transport could affect the need for new power plants, particularly if electric vehicle adoption grows faster than supply capacity.

“PLN currently produces around 494 terawatt-hours a year, as it did in 2025. If we add demand for electric vehicles, we will need a great many new power plants, both new-energy plants and plants to support the system we already have,” he said.

Meanwhile, electric vehicle growth in Indonesia is becoming evident in the rising market share of battery-powered cars. This development means energy supply planning needs to proceed in step with policies to develop the national automotive industry.

The development of the electric vehicle industry therefore cannot be separated from the national energy strategy. Careful planning is needed to ensure that an increase in vehicle numbers does not create a gap between energy demand and the capacity of the electricity system.

“That is why PLN is so important here, Mr Chairman of Periklindo,” he said.