by Nurul Fitri Ramadhani

JAKARTA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia is currently pushing for the use of electric motorbikes, wooing foreign investors to build production plants.

Chairman of the country's Electric Motorbike Association, Budi Setyadi, has said that Indonesia is a very attractive market for investors in electric motorbike companies, given its large population and the increasing purchase of electric motorbikes. Thus, it has the potential to become one of the centers of the world's electric motorcycle industry.

"We see this potential as a positive thing. Now investment continues to flow into Indonesia. This will help the government achieve the net zero emission target in 2060," Setyadi said.

A number of foreign investors in electric motorbikes are currently coming to Indonesia, bringing some fresh air for the development of the electric vehicle (EV) industry in the Southeast Asian country.

Most recently, the China-based electric two-wheelers manufacturer Yadea inaugurated the groundbreaking for its Indonesian factory on Monday through local company PT Yadea Teknologi Indonesia. The site is located in a 27-hectare of land in Suryacipta City of Industry, Karawang, West Java province.

The factory, scheduled to begin operations in 2026, will be Yadea's eighth plant worldwide and is said to be its largest plant in Southeast Asia. With a total estimated investment of up to 150 million U.S. dollars from 2024 to 2028, the factory is projected to have an annual production capacity of 3 million units of electric motorbikes.

Setyadi said besides Yadea, two other Chinese electric motorbike producers would also invest in Indonesia this month, one of which is AIMA.

"In the future, we see that Indonesia will be better for the electric motorbike market," he said.

Before Yadea, China-based PT Sunra Asia Pacific Hi-Tech had just laid the first stone at the groundbreaking ceremony of an electric motorcycle factory in Kendal Industrial Estate, Central Java province, on May 3. The factory is set to start operation in 2025 with an annual production capacity of one million units.

Numerous brands of electric motorbikes made in Japan and South Korea have also been sold in Indonesia. According to local news agencies, both countries were reportedly planning investments to build factories in Indonesia.

Director General of Regional Resilience and International Industrial Access of the country's Ministry of Industry, Eko S.A. Cahyanto, hoped that more global electric motorbike manufacturers would invest in Indonesia, promising that the government would provide convenience to the investors.

"The establishment of factories in Indonesia would bring a new era for Indonesia's industrial development. This will create more job opportunities for local people, encourage the development of related industry chains, and support Indonesia in achieving its goal towards sustainable transportation," Cahyanto said on Monday.

The sales of electric motorcycles start to show a positive trend in Indonesia due to subsidies from the government. According to the Ministry of Industry, as of May 13, more than 15,000 units of electric motorbikes have been distributed to the public, or increased more than 100 percent compared to the previous year, while the yearly target of motorcycles to be sold throughout 2024 is 50,000 units.

Meanwhile, the ministry's Director General of Metal, Machinery, Transport Equipment and Electronics Industry, Taufiek Bawazir, said that the public interest in buying electric motorbikes had been increasing, which became a new strength for the country to speed up its migration to the EV ecosystem. Enditem

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