Indonesia, Chinese firms combine to drive EV growth

Investment incentives

Arnold, who only shared his given name, has worked at a sales center of a Chinese EV brand in Indonesia for almost a year. Before joining the company, he worked for South Korean carmaker Hyundai.

"I joined the Chinese EV company because I saw more people in Indonesia are buying EVs and the government has provided incentives," said Arnold, adding this will create better work opportunities for him.

The Indonesian government has encouraged stakeholders to accelerate the development of the ecosystem for EVs to boost their investments.

In June, Indonesia's Ministry of Industry reached an agreement with four Chinese EV companies — Wuling, Neta, Chery, and Sokon — to make the Southeast Asian country an export production hub of environmentally friendly vehicles, according to Indonesian national news agency Antara.

The country has a local production target of about 600,000 electric vehicles by 2030.

Due to its abundant nickel reserves — a key material for making EV batteries — Indonesia is also keen to establish itself as a battery manufacturing hub.

Fahmy Radhi, an economist and car industry observer from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said it would take time for Chinese brands to dominate the Indonesian market, and overtake sales of Japanese and Korean cars.

"Chinese cars are newcomers. But, they have good prospects here," Radhi told China Daily.

He said China's rapid technological innovation has enabled it to manufacture high-quality products, removing the stigma that Chinese-made goods are lower quality.

"I wish to see Chinese EVs in my campus' parking lots and on Yogyakarta's roads one day," Radhi said.