Prabowo Promises Zero Down Payment and Low Interest for Electric Motorcycles

President Prabowo Subianto has promised a credit scheme with low interest rates and no down payment to support the purchase of nationally produced electric motorcycles (MoLiNas) manufactured by domestic businesses. Speaking at the launch of MoLiNas in Cikarang, Bekasi Regency, West Java, on Thursday, Prabowo instructed the Danantara sovereign wealth fund to support the national electric motorcycle programme, including by preparing a light credit scheme to encourage public uptake. “Danantara, support it with whatever you can. We discussed it earlier — the Finance Minister will not be too pleased, but in the end you will also be pleased. We will lower the instalment interest rate for the people. Then, we will try to make it without a down payment,” the President said. He added that savings from using electric motorcycles could reach a minimum of 50 per cent and up to 70 per cent compared to petrol-powered motorbikes. “Later, because this is a global need, there will be something called a carbon tax in big cities like Beijing, where petrol motorbikes will not be allowed to enter. So this is a warning for those who are still stubborn and infatuated with petrol motorbikes,” he stated. Beyond light loan schemes, Prabowo also pledged to prepare a trade-in mechanism. “So later, we will think about how we can do a trade-in — you hand over your old motorbike and get a new one, with just a little top-up,” he said. At Indika Energy’s electric motorcycle production facility in Cikarang, the President praised the company’s courage in producing 20,000 electric motorbikes amid business risks and stiff competition from major players in China, Japan, and South Korea. He then challenged the company to scale up production to 200,000 or even 2 million units. Prabowo believes national electric motorcycles are part of the national interest, particularly in achieving energy self-sufficiency and reducing dependence on imported fuel. He noted that Indonesia spends between 28 billion and 30 billion US dollars annually on fuel imports. “We are determined to reduce this. With diesel, we already have the B50 alternative, so we are cutting back. In fact, we should no longer need to import diesel from abroad, but we still depend on some energy from outside. We will soon replace LPG with CNG, and we will also build 100 gigawatts of solar power plants,” the President said.