Can Indonesia make the switch to electric motorcycles?
A new paper by Dr Ferry Fathoni, Professor Kang Li, and Professor Jon Lovett explores the economics of battery refurbishment and recycling for electric motorcycles in Indonesia.
There are about 150 million registered motorcycles in Indonesia. They are the primary form of urban transportation, often completely filling the streets. Anyone who has visited a city in Indonesia will be amazed at how people can cross a road through a constant stream of motorcycles by just walking into the road and the motorcycles will move around the pedestrian as they move forward. Remarkably, there are relatively few accidents due to low speeds, congestion, and the skill of the drivers who will have learnt how to ride a motorcycle from an early age.
Whilst they are a relatively efficient way of getting around cities, they are also a major source of air pollution. It is estimated that more deaths result from air pollution caused by motorcycles than from accidents. In response, the government of Indonesia has introduced subsidies to increase the number of electric motorcycles, and in 2025, there were nearly 200,000 registered. However, this is still a small proportion of the total number, as few motorcycle owners can afford new vehicles.
Batteries of an electric vehicle are a major part of the vehicle price, and they need to be in good condition to maintain the vehicle's performance. A promising way of overcoming the cost barrier is to refurbish or recycle the batteries. A new paper led by Dr Ferry Fathoni, a senior specialist in the Indonesian state oil and gas company Pertamina, co-authored with Professor Kang Li and Professor Jon Lovett at Leeds, explores the economics of different scenarios of battery refurbishment and recycling.
Dr Fathoni explained that working out the best solution is not straightforward. “Refurbishment, second-life utilisation, and recycling do not contribute equally across all battery classes; instead, their value depends on four key drivers: the duration and quality of initial use, how heavily the battery is used, the expenses involved in refurbishing or repurposing, and the benefits gained from subsequent use or recycling.”
He added: “By opening up the battery question to more nuance, the framework we’ve created moves beyond standard first-life vehicle costing to offer a more structured, circular-economy view of ownership costs.”
Professor Lovett said: “From a policy perspective, reducing air pollution from the dense motorcycle traffic will have major health benefits, but the transition to electric vehicles is not simple. Used internal combustion engine motorcycles are cheap, so some form of support to enhance refurbishment and second-life markets for batteries is needed. The alternative of strict regulation against polluting vehicles will not be popular, as they are the main form of transport for most urban Indonesians, and any attempt to do that will meet resistance.”
But the shift away from fossil fuel for transport is gathering momentum, and recent events in the Gulf have added impetus. Professor Li said: “Battery technology is advancing rapidly – charging times are falling, driving range is extending, and costs are dropping. Indonesia itself has made strong strides in this area in recent years. As a result, the shift away from fossil fuel-powered transport is no longer a question of 'if' but 'when'. The transition to electric motorcycles has become inevitable.”
Fathoni, Ferry, Kang Li, and Jon C. Lovett. 2026. "Estimating Lifecycle Management of Retired Electric Motorcycle Batteries into Total Cost of Ownership Modelling in Indonesia" Sustainability 18, no. 9: 4428. https://doi.org/10.3390/su18094428
