Electric buses at Busworld Southeast Asia 2019

Indonesia is transforming its bus industry in electric

06 February 2021

Indonesia is moving towards a transformation of the bus industry into electric buses. At the “Strategies and Innovations of Indonesian Bus Industry in the Pandemic Era” webinar organized by the Busworld Southeast Asia team, Director-General of Metal, Machinery, Transportation and Electronic Industries, Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia, Taufiek Bawazier, said there are now three industry players who are ready to produce with a capacity of 1,200 electric buses per year.

Seminars and keynotes are normally held live during Busworld Southeast Asia, but due to the worldwide pandemic specific online webinars are already being held about how to deal with the situation after Covid-19. Busworld Southeast Asia is for this year scheduled on 25-27 August. An event which will probably show electric buses made in Indonesia. The three industries which are ready to produce EV-buses are PT Mobil Anak Bangsa (MAB), PT Inka, and PT Kendaraan Listrik Indonesia (KLI). PT Mobil Anak Bangsa Indonesia (MABI) was established in 2017 and founded by Mr. General TNI (Retired) Dr. Moeldoko as an act of supporting the Government’s program in the General Plan of the National Energy of the Republic of Indonesia, in accordance to the Climate Change Conference held in Paris, French in 2015, the Paris Protocol.

Although it is said the capacity of around 1,200 units per year is not large yet, Taufiek Bawazier explained that the domestic manufacturing of electric commercial vehicles will be an interesting business, based on the procurement program of domestic public transportation, tourism, as well as bus rejuvenation program that has been 25 years old. The total commercial vehicle sales in 2020 amounted to 135,384 units, a decrease almost half to the 232.751 units sold in 2019. The main reason for the sales decrease is the Covid-19 pandemic. The three manufacturers already use ECE drive technology, hybrid, plugin hybrid and fuel cell, which is also already on the Ministry of Industry road map. This year the government will start the building of a charging station network for electric vehicles in the country as well as a battery factory.