Indonesia Aims To Sell Only Electric Motorcycles By 2040

Indonesia aims to sell only electric motorcycles from 2040 to replace vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. The move is part of a larger plan that aims to reduce the country's air pollution and will also see new car sales to only electric by 2050. According to Indonesia's Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources, Arifin Tasrif, all motorcycles sold from 2040 will be electric, while all cars sold from 2050 will be electric vehicles. Indonesia is the world's fourth most-populous country and its capital Jakarta is notorious for its traffic jams and vehicular pollution.

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Indonesia has a large number of motorcycles, and cars, with urban areas reeling under vehicular and air pollution

"We don't have any policy to stop (usage) of internal combustion engine, just the utilisation of electric vehicles, with incentives," said Dadan Kusdiana, director general of renewables at the ministry.

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Over the past ten years, Indonesia sold on average 6.5 million motorcycles per year and about 1 million cars. According to latest estimates, as of 2019, the country had more than 15 million cars and 112 million motorcycles on its roads. The goal of replacing internal combustion engine motorcycles with EVs is an ambitious and significant move. This is more so, for motorcycles, with Indonesia having a passionate motorcycling culture as well. Indonesia has rich supplies of nickel laterite ore used in lithium ion batteries, and the country intends to be a global hub of battery production for EVs over the next few decades, and creating demand in its huge domestic market.