KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. PT Mandala Multifinance Tbk (MFIN) or Mandala Finance stated that until October 2024, financing distribution for electric vehicles grew by 18% compared to the same period in the previous year, or year on year (YoY).

"However, we cannot yet state the amount of financing distribution for electric vehicles," said Managing Director of Mandala Finance, Christel Lasmana to Kontan, Wednesday (4/12).

Even so, Christel saw the government's intense support for the electric vehicle ecosystem, such as expanding incentives for importing battery-based electric cars, exempting Luxury Goods Sales Tax (PPnBM) for imports of completely built-up (CBU) electric cars and accompanied by technological developments in encouraging the acceleration of the green economy.

"Not only that, sustainable finance is also a supporting factor for the growth of the electric vehicle industry in Indonesia throughout this year and the years to come," he added.

According to her, through various policies, the government is encouraging electric vehicle financing to continue to increase, especially for the middle to upper class, with more stable financial conditions and with higher awareness of technology and the environment.

However, even though the electric vehicle credit market has the potential to grow, Christel assessed that the electric vehicle segment also has a number of challenges that need to be overcome and anticipated properly.

These challenges include limited supporting infrastructure such as public electric vehicle charging stations (SPKLU), the absence of special insurance for electric vehicles, higher vehicle prices, and the unclear selling price in the used market.

For this reason, she said that in order to encourage the performance of electric vehicles, Mandala Finance has currently collaborated with one of the electric motorbike brands, namely SELIS, and continues to explore opportunities for collaboration with several other electric motorbike brands to accommodate the potential increase in the community's need for electric motorbikes in the future.

"Of course, Mandala Finance's services will also continue to develop in line with the needs of the community and the growing market segmentation, one of which is through electric vehicle financing," she said.

With a careful and collaborative approach, Mandala Finance is confident that it can provide sustainable financing and support the growth of electric vehicles in Indonesia.

Even so, Christel said that until now, the largest contributor to Mandala Finance's financing is still dominated by financing for new and used motorbikes and multipurpose financing for various needs, one of which is as working capital for the productive sector of MSMEs.