Indonesia’s EV Transition Not Just to Cut Emissions, More So to Cut Oil Dependence, Study Says

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For decades, Indonesia built its economic and social stability around subsidized fuel.

Cheap gasoline and diesel became embedded in transport habits, logistics systems and household budgets. Even today, fuel prices remain artificially low by regional standards. However, this affordability is sustained by heavy state intervention, not market reality. As global oil prices spike due to geopolitical instability, the cost of maintaining these subsidies rises dramatically, placing growing pressure on public finances.

The International Council on Clean Transportation’s (ICCT) working paper “Roadmap to zero: Policies to accelerate the electric vehicle transition in Indonesia” by Jeanly Syahputri, Dale Hall, Josh Miller, Aditya Mahalana, and Francisco Posada begins from a structural reality that is increasingly difficult for Indonesia to manage: the country’s transport system is locked into fossil fuel dependence at the same time that the economic and geopolitical costs of that dependence are rising.

The report makes clear that Indonesia’s transition to electric vehicles is not simply an environmental initiative but a response to a system under strain, noting that “the road transport sector accounts for 22% of the country’s energy-related emissions” while fossil fuel subsidies “accounted for approximately 10% of state spending in 2023, creating an unsustainable fiscal burden.”

ICCT data underscores the scale of the challenge. Indonesia has more than 170 million registered vehicles, with annual sales of around 6 million motorcycles and 1 million cars, trucks, and buses. The vast majority still rely on low-quality fossil fuels. Road transport alone accounts for about 22 percent of the country’s energy-related emissions, while vehicle pollution contributes to thousands of premature deaths annually.

This becomes sharper when viewed through the lens of global oil volatility. Indonesia’s reliance on imported fuel exposes it directly to external shocks, and the report underscores this vulnerability by stating that “the majority of road transport fuels are imported and domestic production is in decline,” compounding both fiscal and energy security risks. In periods of geopolitical disruption, such as those affecting global oil supply chains, the contradiction becomes more pronounced. Fuel must remain politically affordable, yet the cost of maintaining that affordability escalates rapidly as international prices rise, forcing the government to absorb the difference through subsidies that strain public finances.

The report frames electrification as a pathway out of this structural trap, not only by reducing emissions but by reshaping the country’s energy exposure. It emphasizes that the transition offers “an opportunity for the country to achieve both economic and environmental objectives,” linking reduced oil dependence with long-term fiscal stability and improved public health outcomes. This is reinforced by the scale of potential benefits outlined in earlier modeling, where transitioning to zero-emission vehicles could “reduce cumulative fuel consumption by 5.1–6.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent through 2060” and generate “US$255–US$321 billion in energy disbursement savings.”

Despite these advantages, the transition remains at an early and uneven stage. The report notes that while “zero-emission passenger car sales surpassed 5% in 2024,” adoption across other vehicle segments remains below 1%, highlighting the gap between policy ambition and market reality. This gap is particularly critical in a country where motorcycles dominate mobility, suggesting that the bulk of emissions and fuel consumption remains tied to conventional technologies.

What the current oil environment exposes is the cost of maintaining the status quo. Subsidies that once functioned as a stabilizing tool are increasingly a source of fiscal vulnerability, while dependence on imported fuel leaves the transport system exposed to geopolitical risks beyond Indonesia’s control. Electrification, in this context, becomes less about long-term decarbonization targets and more about immediate structural resilience.

The report ultimately positions Indonesia at an inflection point.

It warns that “without adequate policies, Indonesia risks falling short of these transition targets, forgoing the projected energy savings, deepening its dependence on fossil fuel imports, and missing the opportunity to avert billions of tonnes of CO₂ emissions.” The contradiction between cheap fuel and expensive oil is therefore not sustainable. It is a pressure point that is now accelerating the need for systemic change, with electric vehicles emerging as a central mechanism to resolve it.