Getting people to buy electric motorcycles can be tricky. You can talk about lower running costs, fewer moving parts, cleaner cities, and instant torque until everyone politely nods themselves to sleep. Or, if you're Indonesia, you can skip the sales pitch and start talking about handing buyers actual money. And given what happened to the country's electric motorcycle market when its previous incentives disappeared, you can probably see why.

Indonesia is preparing another subsidy program for electric motorcycles, although the exact amount has already become a moving target.

Earlier this week, the country's Industry Ministry said it was preparing an incentive worth Rp 5 million per motorcycle, or about $280, pending regulations from the Finance Ministry. The government had previously floated that figure as part of a much broader push to get more electric two-wheelers onto Indonesian roads.

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Except now that number has changed. According to a newer Jakarta Globe report, the planned incentive has been reduced to Rp 3 million per motorcycle, equivalent to roughly $170. The latest proposal targets up to one million units, which would still represent a potentially enormous government-backed push for electric two-wheelers. Apparently, even giving away money requires a little haggling first.

There's a pretty obvious reason Indonesia is reaching for the checkbook. The country previously offered a Rp 7 million (around $396) subsidy on qualifying electric motorcycles, but that incentive ended at the beginning of 2025. Electric motorcycle registrations subsequently dropped to 55,059 units that year, down about 28.6 percent from 77,078 in 2024, according to Indonesian industry and transportation data.

Correlation isn't always causation, of course, but the Indonesian electric motorcycle industry hasn't exactly been subtle about wanting incentives back. Removing thousands of dollars? No. Removing a few hundred bucks from the price of a relatively inexpensive motorcycle? That's a different story. In a price-sensitive two-wheeler market, $170 can suddenly become a pretty meaningful chunk of the purchase price.

And Indonesia isn't thinking small here. The government wants 13 million electric motorcycles on its roads by 2030. President Prabowo Subianto's administration is also pushing a larger domestic EV ecosystem covering manufacturing, batteries, charging infrastructure, financing, and after-sales support. There's even discussion of a trade-in program that could encourage riders to swap their existing gas-powered motorcycles for electric ones.

That last bit matters because Indonesia doesn't need to convince people that motorcycles are useful. The country already has a massive population of gas-powered bikes doing everything from commuting to deliveries. The actual challenge is convincing those riders that their next motorcycle should have a battery instead of a gas tank.

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