Jakarta. Business conglomeration Bakrie & Brothers recently unveiled its plan to ramp up its focus on the electric bus market.

Since 2018, the group’s subsidiary Bakrie Autoparts has teamed up with Chinese automotive giant BYD Auto to penetrate into the electric vehicle (EV) market in Indonesia. 

According to Bakrie Autoparts chief executive officer Dino Ryandi, the company is focusing more on e-heavy mobility like buses —rather than the smaller, passenger cars— to better tackle pollution and make EV more accessible to everyone. Bakrie also revealed the market size for electric buses and trucks can reach up to $220 billion.

“The most addressable market segment [for electric buses] is Transjakarta bus fleet. Their daily ridership hit a million passengers a day prior to the pandemic. They have the concrete plan of electrifying 14,000 buses by 2028,” Dino told a virtual press conference on Friday.

Bakrie Autoparts will supply 30 electric buses for the city-owned bus operator. 

“The Jakarta government is aiming to operate 100 electric buses this year, but we have to undergo a second round of tender [to supply] for the remaining 70 Transjakarta bus units,” Dino said.

The produced units are complete knock-downs that need to be assembled by local bodymaker firms.

Another potential market segment is electrifying buses in general. Indonesia’s commitment to slash emission under the Paris climate accord has given a huge opportunity for Bakrie Autoparts. 

“Indonesia has up to 2 million buses on its roads. With the Paris Accord, [Indonesia] has to convert about 23-25 percent of their buses into electric ones until 2026, so we have a market of 400,000 buses,” Dino said.

Bakrie is also planning to set up an assembly line facility for electric vehicles in Bakauheni, Lampung. The groundbreaking will take place by Q4-2021. Dino expects the facility to operate by the Q3-2022. 

For its industrialization process, Bakrie has inked MoUs with three state-owned enterprises, including the photovoltaic firm Len Industri for inverters and arms producer Pindad for electric motors. Bakrie will also source its iron components from manufacturer Barata Indonesia.

“We have also signed MoUs with several prominent bodymakers in the country such as Laksana and Adiputro. [Under the MoU], we will make the chassis and they will be in charge of the body,” Dino said.

Bakrie's buses local content currently stands at around 30 percent, Bakrie & Brothers president director Anindya Bakrie revealed. 

"We have allocated a working capital of $30 million. As well as $50 million for the industrialization process or constructing the [assembly line] facility for import substitutions. All these funds come from internal generated cash flow, partnerships with the banking industry, and vendor financing," Anindya said.