Tri Saktir carrosserie director Andi Widodo (left), BYD Indonesia and Malaysia managing director Eagle Zhao (second left) and PT Bakrie and Brothers president director and CEO Anindya Novyan Bakrie (second right) stand in front of a VKTR electric bus parked in a warehouse in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia on Thursday. VKTR
Conglomerates and start-ups alike are strengthening their grip on Indonesia’s green transportation industry by engaging in the manufacture and procurement of electric vehicles (EV) for their businesses.
PT Vektr Mobiliti Indonesia (VKTR) became the latest company to tap into the industry when it announced last week that it would manufacture electric buses (e-buses) in collaboration with local carrosserie manufacturer Tri Sakti and top Chinese EV producer BYD Auto.
“With this partnership, we are officially opening the first e-bus manufacturing facility in Indonesia,” said Anindya Novyan Bakrie, president director and CEO of Bakrie and Brothers (BNBR).
VKTR is a spin-off of PT Bakrie Autoparts, an automotive component subsidiary of BNBR, a conglomerate with businesses in mining, construction, agriculture, manufacturing, trade and other sectors.
Anindya went on to say that VKTR was established to focus on transportation electrification, starting with the heavy mobility EV segment.
“We hope that VKTR will soon become the first electrification start-up to attain unicorn status,” he said, adding that the company would also venture into other transportation segments, EV infrastructure, battery production and EV financing in the future.
Meanwhile, VKTR president director Gilarsi Setijono said the company would supply 30 e-buses to Transjakarta this week for the latter’s feeder bus fleet.
“We will expand our market reach to areas outside of Jakarta as well,” he said, adding that the company had conducted e-bus trials in Aceh, as well as in Bogor in West Java and Magelang in Central Java.
Other conglomerates in the automotive distribution segment, namely Indika Group, PT Astra International and the massive Salim Group, have also entered the EV industry.
Indika’s coal mining arm, Indika Energy, established PT Electra Mobilitas Indonesia (EMI) last year to develop electric motorcycles and the required ecosystem, such as energy storage systems (ESS), battery swap stations and EV research and development facilities.
As reported earlier, Indika Energy has also inked an investment deal with Taiwan-based companies and the Indonesia Battery Corporation worth $8 billion to develop Indonesia’s EV ecosystem.
Salim Group, which holds a majority stake in PT Nissan Motor Distributor through its automotive subsidiary PT Indomobil Sukses Internasional (IMAS), has been selling the Nissan Leaf electric car since August.
Meanwhile, Astra International, through PT Toyota Astra Motor, introduced electric cars back in 2009 with the launch of the Toyota Prius.
Fitch Ratings predicted in December that some 900,000 four-wheeled (4W) vehicles would likely be sold in Indonesia in 2022. The predicted figure would mark an improvement from the estimated 850,000 sold in 2021.
Start-ups that heavily rely on motorcycles have also tapped into the EV market. Ride-hailing service Grab and e-commerce platform Lazada have begun to use electric bikes for their delivery fleets.
Singapore-based Lazada’s logistics unit, Lazada Logistics announced last week that it planned to use electric motorcycles from e-bike manufacturer Smoot Motor Indonesia to deliver packages in Indonesia.
“We will bring more electric vehicles to our fleet with the collaboration with Smoot,” said Lazada Indonesia chief logistics officer Philippe Auberger.
Lazada partnered with Grab in March to provide electric motorcycles for couriers in the Greater Jakarta area.
Meanwhile, homegrown ride-hailing firm Gojek went a step further by establishing a joint venture, Electrum, with PT TBS Energi Utama to develop an end-to-end EV ecosystem.
Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) executive director Tauhid Ahmad said the rising number of players in the EV industry would benefit consumers, as competition could drive EV prices down.
“If the costs go down, consumers get tax incentives and are exempted from the odd-even traffic policy, these [three things together] are going to create [a bigger] EV market,” he told the Jakarta Post.
Tauhid went on to say that Indonesia’s electric motorcycle market was more mature than the electric car market because prices of e-bikes were already in the Indonesian consumer’s purchasing power range.
He added that companies that could capture the Indonesian market were the ones that could sell or manufacture green multi-purpose vehicles (MPV) in the 300-500 million rupiah ($20,900-34,800) price range, as such a car would appeal to the large demographic of middle-class, family-oriented Indonesians.
THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
