More Cost-Efficient: These Vehicles Could Free Indonesia from Imported Fuel

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – PT PLN (Persero) has highlighted several benefits for the public in switching to electric vehicles (Electric Vehicle/EV) compared with conventional fuel-powered vehicles. The use of EVs offers far higher energy efficiency and lower operating costs.

PLN’s Chief Executive Darmawan Prasodjo explained that technically the propulsion system of an electric vehicle is far more energy-conversion efficient than an internal combustion engine. He compared the efficiency levels of the two vehicle types as markedly different.

‘The energy, when converted into kinetic energy, is very efficient. Its efficiency is over 85%. What is the evidence? Please observe a ceiling fan; from front to back, left to right, is there an exhaust pipe? There isn’t,’ said Darmawan at the inauguration ceremony for a Public Electric Vehicle Charging Station (SPKLU) at the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) in Jakarta, quoted on Friday 6 March 2026.

In his notes, oil-based vehicles have an efficiency of around 13%–15% because much of the energy is wasted as heat through the exhaust. By contrast, electric vehicles can convert energy into motion without wasting much heat energy, making them far more energy-efficient.

‘Well, with the distance of 10 kilometres, it consumes only 1.5 kWh of electricity, Sir, which is about Rp 2,600 per 10 kilometres. So the cost could be reduced by up to 70% compared with using an oil-based car,’ he added.

For comparison, he noted that one litre of fuel priced at around Rp 13,000 can cover the same distance, i.e. 10 kilometres.

‘And its emissions, one litre of petrol produces 2.4 kilograms of CO2. 1.5 kWh of electricity with emissions from a coal-fired power plant would be around 1.5 kilograms of CO2. So the emission reduction is also very drastic, even if the power plant is coal-fired,’ he said.

Besides benefits for users, a shift to electric vehicles also positively impacts national energy resilience. Darmawan stressed that this is an effort to move the country’s dependence from imported energy to domestically sourced energy.

‘In other words, this is a shift from expensive energy to cheap energy, from high-emission energy to low-emission energy. And today much BBM is based on imports, whereas electricity is based on domestically sourced energy,’ he concluded.

(pgr/pgr)