Using Electric Vehicles Is More Efficient Than Petrol—Here’s the Proof

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - PLN (Persero) unveiled that the shift from oil-based vehicles to electric vehicles is part of the national energy transition. The use of electric vehicles offers higher energy efficiency than conventional vehicles.

PLN’s Chief Executive Darmawan Prasodjo outlined comparison data between the two vehicle types. According to his notes, electric motors are efficient at converting energy into motion with little heat loss.

‘But when energy is converted from electrical to kinetic energy, it is highly efficient. Its efficiency is more than 85%. What’s the evidence? Look at a fan; if you look from the front, back, left, right, is there an exhaust? There isn’t. That shows that converting electrical energy into kinetic energy is very efficient,’ Darmawan said at the inauguration of the Public Electric Vehicle Charging Station (SPKLU) at the Ministry of Trade, Jakarta, reported on Friday (6 March 2026).

Based on the data, petrol vehicles have efficiency levels only around 13% to 15%. The rest of the energy is wasted as heat exiting through the exhaust. Meanwhile, the conversion of electrical energy to kinetic energy reaches more than 85%.

That means this is a shift from expensive energy to cheap energy, from high-emission energy to low-emission energy. BBM is currently already largely based on imports, and electricity is powered by domestic sources. In other words, shifting from import-based energy to domestic-based energy,” added Darmawan.

Darmawan also outlined operational cost savings that users of electric vehicles can enjoy. For example, to cover a distance of 10 kilometres in a petrol-based car requires a cost of around Rp 13,000. By contrast, the same distance in an electric car uses only 1.5 kWh of electricity with a cost of around Rp 2,600.

In addition to operational cost savings, the switch to electric vehicles is also seen as capable of significantly reducing carbon emissions. Although electricity is still sourced from coal-fired plants, emissions from electric cars remain lower than petrol cars, and will become cleaner as PLN’s plants move to renewable energy.

That is the shift from expensive energy to cheap energy, from high-emission energy to low-emission energy. And BBM is currently largely based on imports, while electricity is domestic-based energy. In other words, shifting from import-based energy to domestic-based energy,” concluded Darmawan.