Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing giant Grab is looking into several types of electric vehicles that will be used for Indonesia’s market, following Indonesia’s presidential decree to support the electric vehicle (EV) industry and turning the country into an EV hub for Asia and beyond.
The government measures are directed at stimulating the adoption of battery-powered cars in the country, as well as incentivizing the production and export of EVs. Benefits such as lower taxes for manufacturers and buyers of EV, and advantages such as special parking areas are part of the new policy, according to Bloomberg.
The company’s president for Indonesia Ridzki Kramadibrata said on Thursday that Grab is preparing and communicating with the government, while it is also waiting to see which industry guidelines will be derived from the recent presidential decree.
“We are preparing for the kind of vehicles that will be suitable with Indonesia’s market, either four wheels, three wheels, and two wheels. For four wheels, we definitely will join with Hyundai, but for other wheels, we are considering whether to collaborate with international direct investment or not,” Ridzki told KrASIA, adding that the company is also preparing the infrastructure for the charging station.
Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said this week that Softbank will build charging stations to support Grab in implementing its network of electric vehicles.
Last July, Softbank’s chief executive Masayoshi Son, together with Grab CEO Anthony Tan and Kramadibrata went on a meeting with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo. After the encounter, Softbank and Grab announced an investment of USD 2 billion over five years to drive the digitization of crucial services and infrastructure in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Gojek and its investor PT Astra International Tbk, announced a pilot project to tackle pollution by using Honda’s PCX electric motorcycles. “The result of the pilot project will be a review for GoJek, that will open a possibility to develop the collaboration on a bigger scale,’ said Nila Marita, chief corporate affairs of GoJek.