Bandung, West Java (ANTARA) - The Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs has said that Indonesia must take the lead in the investment competition in the electric vehicle (EV) sector as soon as possible.
Secretary to the ministry's Deputy for Investment and Mining Coordination, Rifky Setiawan, said that the transition from conventional vehicles to EVs in the global market has been very rapid.
"This is related to Indonesia's commitment to the Paris Agreement. Countries in the world are already competing to produce EVs," he said at the "Eight Years of National Strategic Projects Infrastructure Forum and Edutainment Expo" in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Indonesia must play a role so that it does not become solely an importing country, he added.
He noted that there has been an increase in the adoption of EVs in the global market since 2017, or after the adoption of the Paris Agreement. Around 5 million EVs were sold in 2020, and their number rose to 6 million in 2021.
He further said that in 2022, at least 10 million EVs were sold in the global market. Meanwhile, 14 million EVs have been sold this year so far.
It has been deemed essential for Indonesia to become a producer of EVs. This is because Indonesia has the potential to help lower EV prices in the global market, Setiawan explained.
He said that EV prices have remained high because their batteries are not cheap. Indonesia has the potential to produce batteries with the resources that it has.
According to him, there are several challenges to Indonesia taking the lead in EV investment, including low production capacity.
Based on his presentation, the domestic production capacity of EVs is 29 thousand cars, 2,480 buses, and 1.42 million motorcycles per year.
Investors also need market support in the form of a legal framework and incentives to encourage investment. To this end, he affirmed that so far, his ministry has coordinated a number of regulations so that Indonesia can take advantage of the EV trend.
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