Indonesia's 120 Million Motorcycle Conversion Plan Faces a Capacity and Cost Test

A national energy goal meets a shortage of workshops

Indonesia wants to convert approximately 120 million gasoline motorcycles to electric power, yet the country has just 39 government certified conversion workshops, according to the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR). President Prabowo Subianto has called for the transformation within three to four years, putting one of Southeast Asia's most ambitious electrification proposals against a severe shortage of facilities, trained workers and supporting infrastructure.

Prabowo presented the plan as a way to eliminate fuel imports and secure energy independence. In a March video address, the president described the intended reach of the program:

The whole plan is to convert all of our motorcycles to electric,

Indonesia imports roughly one million barrels of oil a day, with 20 to 25 percent passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Recent tensions in the Middle East have shown how disruptions along that route can spread into wider economic problems. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia has been assigned to lead a government task force on the energy transition.

Prabowo instructed the task force to complete the conversion within his proposed timetable, adding:

even faster if possible.

As of April 25, 2026, the central challenge is how to turn that instruction into work that can be completed safely and affordably across the world's third largest motorcycle fleet. Energy economists, automotive specialists and academic researchers have identified obstacles extending from workshop capacity and battery costs to resale values and the electricity used for charging.

Fahmy Radhi, an energy economist at Gadjah Mada University, argues that Indonesia's existing system lacks the basic infrastructure needed for electrification on this scale. Previous conversion programs also show how far participation has fallen short of government targets.

How much conversion capacity would Indonesia need?

IESR estimates that converting 120 million motorcycles within five years would require approximately 16,000 to 27,000 certified workshops across Indonesia. That calculation assumes each workshop completes 900 to 1,500 conversions annually, together processing about 24 million motorcycles a year. Prabowo's proposed three to four years would require an even faster pace.

Fabby Tumiwa, IESR's executive director, described the limited number and geographic concentration of authorized facilities:

no more than 50, and even those are concentrated in Greater Jakarta,

Bogor, Bandung and Bali have additional workshop clusters. Owners in rural parts of Papua, Kalimantan or Sulawesi could face journeys of hundreds of kilometers to reach a certified facility. Travel costs and time away from work can make a conversion impractical even when the government helps pay for the equipment.

Java's stronger concentration of facilities reflects wider infrastructure differences between the island and Indonesia's outer regions. Workshops need specialized training, diagnostic equipment and reliable access to electric motors and battery management systems. A battery management system monitors and controls a battery's operation, making it part of the equipment that mechanics must understand.

Conversion means removing the gasoline engine and fuel tank, then fitting a battery pack, electric motor and modified control systems. Experienced mechanics may complete the work in 45 minutes to two hours per motorcycle, but expanding the national network also requires training workers, equipping facilities and completing certification.

Peer reviewed academic research links conversion duration to consumer choices. A 50 percent increase in the time required reduces the probability of choosing electric motorcycle conversion by 5.2 percentage points and increases the probability of buying a new gasoline motorcycle by 3 percentage points. For riders who depend on their motorcycle every day, time without it carries a practical cost.

The earlier program fell far short

Former President Joko Widodo's government launched a motorcycle conversion program in 2023. Subsidies ranged from 7 million to 10 million rupiah, approximately $408 to $583, per motorcycle for conversion kits that included batteries and motors.

The government targeted 50,000 conversions in 2023 and 150,000 in 2024. Ministry figures put completed conversions at just 145 in 2023 and 1,615 in 2024. Together, the two years delivered fewer than 1 percent of their combined targets.

Bebin Djuana, a retired automotive executive, attributed the weak results to missing support systems and the different engineering requirements of individual motorcycle models:

There were many supporting factors that were not yet in place. Each vehicle model is different; you cannot apply a one-size-fits-all conversion. We need trained workers to handle conversions, but where is the training?

Indonesia's recent policy history shows both the expansion in ambition and the uncertainty surrounding government support:

• 2023: The conversion subsidy program began, with 145 motorcycles converted against a target of 50,000. Government incentives for electric vehicle purchases also began in the middle of the year.
• 2024: Conversions increased to 1,615 against a target of 150,000. Electric vehicle purchase incentives expired in December.
• 2025: Plans for renewed incentives were repeatedly postponed before authorities announced that no new electric vehicle incentives would be introduced.
• March 2026: Prabowo set out his ambition to convert approximately 120 million motorcycles within three to four years.
• April 25, 2026: Workshop capacity, financing, safety and consumer acceptance remained central obstacles to that ambition.

The earlier results make expansion a question of execution as much as public spending. Subsidies were already available, yet participation remained small. A much larger program would need to address the reasons riders and workshops did not join in sufficient numbers.

Riders face different financial and practical choices

Gadjah Mada University research identifies different concerns among groups of riders. Committed motorcycle enthusiasts and older riders focus mainly on financing and the potential loss of resale value. Daily commuters who depend heavily on their vehicles worry about complicated procedures and difficulty finding information about conversion costs.

Riders who prefer more powerful motorcycles, along with newer riders using light motorcycles, are more concerned about disruption to their journeys while conversion takes place. Even a relatively short period in a workshop requires planning when a motorcycle is essential for commuting or earning a living.

Academic analysis also indicates that electric motorcycles lose resale value faster than conventional gasoline models. Many Indonesian owners treat a motorcycle as an asset they expect to keep for years and eventually sell. An uncertain resale market can therefore weaken the appeal of spending money on a conversion.

Research finds the greatest willingness to adopt electric motorcycle conversion among people using older motorcycles. That gives policymakers a more specific group to consider than all owners at once. The age of the vehicle, the owner's daily travel needs and confidence in future resale value all affect whether a subsidy becomes an attractive proposition.

Why replacing an engine raises safety questions

Converting a gasoline motorcycle changes more than its source of power. The original frame was designed around a particular engine, weight distribution and structural load. Installing a battery pack and electric motor changes what the frame, suspension and tires must support.

Vietnam's debate over similar conversions provides technical warnings relevant to Indonesia. Bui Van Hung, a technical expert at a Vietnamese motorcycle company, said replacing original engines and transmissions can disturb vehicle balance and affect suspension systems, tires and frame integrity.

Hung also warned about managing heat from the new equipment:

The vehicle's original heat dissipation system may not be adequate to handle the new battery, increasing the risk of fire,

He referred to incidents involving modified electric motorcycles that caught fire, leaving added battery compartments exposed after the surrounding frames burned away. Heat dissipation means moving heat away from components so they can operate safely.

Dr. Nguyen Van Long Giang, from the mechanical engineering department at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, said university experiments with conversions from gasoline to electricity were judged impractical because of safety concerns and deterioration in appearance. He also questioned their financial value:

The cost effectiveness of the conversion remains questionable,

Conversion costs can reach 60 to 100 percent of the price of a new electric motorcycle. Lithium batteries account for nearly half the conversion expense and require replacement every three to five years, adding a future cost to the initial decision.

Indonesian companies Bintang Racing Team, Elders Garage and Spora EV have developed their own conversion kits using motors produced internally and batteries imported mainly from China and South Korea. Many smaller workshops instead depend on motors from numerous small American and Chinese suppliers, whose quality standards vary. Limited engineering capabilities at some workshops make consistent equipment and installation standards especially important.

Electric motorcycles would charge on a grid dominated by coal

Approximately 56 percent of Indonesia's electricity comes from power plants that burn coal. Electric motorcycles produce no direct emissions while operating, but generating the electricity to charge them still creates emissions.

Fahmy Radhi argues that vehicle electrification needs to proceed alongside cleaner electricity generation. Otherwise, pollution moves from motorcycle exhausts to power plant smokestacks. The transport sector accounts for approximately 22 percent of Indonesia's emissions from fossil fuel combustion, while electricity generation contributes roughly 50 percent.

Those figures explain why the power supply matters to the environmental outcome. Converting millions of motorcycles would increase electricity demand. If additional demand is met by burning more coal, that would limit the climate benefits of replacing gasoline engines.

Prabowo has separately announced plans to build 100 gigawatts of solar generation capacity and retire 13 diesel power plants within two years. Those plans target a reduction in fuel imports of 200,000 barrels a day.

Energy analysts question whether renewable electricity infrastructure can expand quickly enough to keep pace with charging demand from millions of additional electric motorcycles. The conversion timetable and the electricity construction timetable therefore need to work together if the government is to pursue both lower oil imports and lower emissions.

Subsidies could carry a vast fiscal cost

Providing 10 million rupiah for each of 120 million conversions would cost 1,200 trillion rupiah, approximately $70 billion. That is a calculation based on extending the upper level of the earlier subsidy to every motorcycle in the proposed program, rather than an announced funding allocation.

Indonesia's 2025 fuel subsidy expenditure was 26.7 trillion rupiah. The calculated conversion bill would be nearly 45 times that amount, placing the scale of a universal subsidy beside the government's existing fuel support spending.

Budi Setiyadi, chairman of the Indonesian Electric Motorcycle Industry Association (AISMOLI), said producers support electrification but need stable government policy to keep businesses viable:

policy certainty becomes very important

Industry accounts describe some manufacturers as increasingly desperate amid unstable support arrangements. Purchase incentives introduced in the middle of 2023 expired in December 2024. Repeated postponements during 2025, followed by the announcement that no new electric vehicle incentives would be introduced, complicated investment planning.

The wider motorcycle market offers little relief. Growth slowed to 0.6 percent in 2025, and sales fell 17.2 percent compared with a year earlier in March 2026 following fuel price increases. Manufacturers are being asked to prepare for a major technological shift while demand and government assistance remain uncertain.

A possible sales mandate meets an emerging industry

Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita has said the government is preparing regulations that would eventually require all motorcycles sold domestically to be electric. Such a policy could phase out production of motorcycles with internal combustion engines for Indonesian buyers while allowing exports to Africa, the Middle East and South America to continue.

No implementation date for that proposed sales requirement has been given. The existing fleet would still need a practical route through the transition, with affordable vehicles, accessible workshops and safe conversion options. Weaknesses in those systems could leave owners with limited choices or push some toward uncertified modifications.

Private investment shows that Indonesia's electric motorcycle industry is expanding, although individual projects remain modest beside the national conversion ambition. Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Yadea has established a factory in Bekasi, West Java, covering 28,000 square meters and capable of producing 300,000 vehicles annually.

Domestic startup MAKA Motors has introduced the MAKA Cavalry, a motorcycle designed locally with a range of 160 kilometers and advanced regenerative braking. Regenerative braking recovers some energy during slowing and returns it to the battery. The launch followed a $37.6 million seed funding round jointly led by AC Ventures.

Automotive component maker PT Dharma Polimetal has launched Dharma Connect, bringing together battery packs, charging stations and conversion technology for vehicles with two and four wheels. President Director Irianto Santoso described the purpose of those initiatives as:

supporting Indonesia's clean energy transition while developing innovative products created by local talent.

Factories, locally developed motorcycles and component partnerships can help build supply and technical skills. Nationwide conversion also requires that equipment, mechanics and charging services reach the places where owners live and work.

A smaller first phase could target the heaviest users

Fabby Tumiwa recommends beginning with people who use motorcycles intensively, including online motorcycle taxi drivers, logistics couriers and workers in industrial zones. He estimates that converting approximately 2 million motorcycles in such groups could save up to 800,000 kiloliters of fuel annually.

That proposal concentrates spending on motorcycles used frequently, where lower fuel consumption could accumulate faster. It also offers a more limited starting point for workshop expansion than attempting to serve every owner at once.

Other proposals would allow owners of motorcycles more than ten years old to trade them toward new electric vehicles through programs commonly called cash for clunkers. That would replace aging motorcycles rather than require changes to their original frames and engines.

Jakarta, Surabaya and Bandung have been proposed as places for initial urban programs. Concentrating early activity could allow workshop networks to develop while charging infrastructure expands beyond its current clusters in shopping centers. Research showing stronger interest among owners of older motorcycles also supports targeting aging fleets to obtain more environmental benefit from each conversion.

Fahmy Radhi argues that targets should follow the capacity Indonesia can actually build. The Gadjah Mada University energy economist warned:

We should set targets that reflect our actual capacity. Overly ambitious goals risk missing the mark,

He also cautioned against expecting conversion programs to provide immediate relief from fuel price pressures:

These programmes are not suited to addressing short-term problems like rising fuel prices.

Indonesia's choice is therefore about the pace, financing and order of implementation. Prabowo has set a national ambition of approximately 120 million conversions within three to four years. The record of earlier subsidies, the small certified workshop network and the costs facing riders point toward substantial work before that ambition can become a service available across the country.

The Bottom Line

• Prabowo wants approximately 120 million gasoline motorcycles converted to electricity within three to four years to reduce dependence on imported fuel.
• IESR lists 39 certified conversion workshops. Its estimate for completing the task in five years requires approximately 16,000 to 27,000.
• Conversions reached 145 in 2023 and 1,615 in 2024, against respective targets of 50,000 and 150,000.
• Riders face conversion costs, uncertain resale values, time without their motorcycles and future battery replacement expenses.
• Safety concerns include changes to vehicle balance, structural loads and heat management.
• Coal supplies approximately 56 percent of electricity, making cleaner power generation part of the transition.
• Subsidizing every conversion at 10 million rupiah would cost approximately 1,200 trillion rupiah, or $70 billion.
• Proposed alternatives include starting with intensive commercial users, older motorcycles and urban programs while workshops and charging networks expand.