The adoption of electric motorcycles: A survey of public perception in Indonesia

Abstract

The growing demand for private vehicles associated with the rise in the number of middle-income consumers in Indonesia has led to an enormous energy demand and high-level CO2 emissions. In order to increase the sustainability in the transportation sector, the Indonesian government has given special attention to electric vehicles as key future solutions to achieve clean and green transport and to improve energy supply security. This paper aims to investigate public perception in relation to the adoption of electric motorcycles (EMs) in Indonesia. We conduct a survey involving 514 participants and find that only 36% of participants agree to adopt EMs as their next motorcycle, and 40% are still in doubt (i.e. neutral). To identify factors influencing EMs adoption, we expand the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model and analyse the data collected using Partial-Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that an adequate perception of EMs, environmental benefits, economic benefits, and incentive policies positively affect the attitude toward the adoption of EMs, which reinforce the results of the previous studies. However, perceived cost and perceived risks appear to be insignificantly influential in our study. Furthermore, factors related to high-behavioural control and support from relatives and closest people are shown to significantly affect the adoption of EMs. This paper also presents the acceptable price range of EMs and the optimal price point (OPP) for segments differentiated by monthly income. All these findings provide valuable insights for the different stakeholders interested in enhancing the adoption of EMs in Indonesia.