Jakarta – Chinese electric vehicle (EV) producer BYD Auto Industry, Ltd, has unveiled its plan to invest around US$1 billion in developing an electric vehicle assembly plant in Subang, West Java, this year, signalling optimism of the automaker over the EV market in the country.
BYD entered the Indonesian EV market in January 2024, and within one year, the company shot up to become one of the top EV car sellers of the year.
“Through communications with our consumers in Indonesia, they hope BYD can establish a manufacturer in Indonesia. Therefore, we plan to develop (an EV) assembly plant in Indonesia this year,” Liu Xueliang, General Manager of BYD for Asia-Pacific Auto, said during an interview with CNBC Indonesia on Tuesday, February 4.
In a statement issued last Sunday, BYD said it aims to start operating the plant in 2026 and produce 150,000 units annually. In the initial phase, the company will produce a hybrid car model combining a combustion engine with a battery, adopting the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV).
Currently, EV car sales account for 5-6 per cent of the country’s total car sales. Many observers have said that 2024 was the turning point of the EV car market in Indonesia after the government issued several fiscal incentives.
In 2024, total EV car sales reached 42,889 units, or 151.53% more than the previous year’s 17,062 units and 10,327 units in 2022. Meanwhile, hybrid car sales reached 56,812 units in 2024, up 4.86% from 2023.
In 2024, the total national car sales reached 865,723 units, which fell 13.9% from 2023 of 1,005,802 units. Thus, the EV car (excluding hybrid) sales in 2024 represent 4.9% of the total car sales. (Roffie Kurniawan)
