Indonesia’s long-awaited electric-vehicle purchase incentives are drifting further into the year, with the coordinating minister for economic affairs signalling a likely delay to August 2026—the second postponement after an initial June target slipped to July. The government is still evaluating the scheme, he said, while also preparing a “national car” programme. The finance minister acknowledged he had not been formally notified of the latest shift, and the industry ministry warned that the uncertainty is already holding back consumer purchase decisions, potentially pressuring the automotive sector. The delay leaves a planned allocation of 200,000 subsidised units—100,000 cars and 100,000 motorcycles—in abeyance, even as first-quarter battery-electric car sales surged 95.9 percent year-on-year to 33,150 units.

The Jakarta drift stands in sharp contrast to decisive policy moves elsewhere. In New Delhi, the city government approved a Rs 7,000 crore EV policy that bans registration of new petrol two-wheelers from April 2028 and mandates electric-only three-wheelers and light commercial trucks from January 2027, backed by purchase subsidies of up to Rs 30,000 for two-wheelers and full road-tax waivers. Brasília, meanwhile, raised import duties on electric and hybrid vehicles on 1 July as part of a pre-announced schedule that will take the tariff to 35 percent by mid-2026, while maintaining a zero-duty quota for manufacturers building local assembly plants—a measure the government says will protect domestic production and jobs.

Beneath the policy divergence, common adoption hurdles persist. Indonesian industry figures and academics point to range anxiety, a charging network of only 4,778 public stations serving over 358,000 EVs, and the need for accessible financing as critical gaps. A major finance company, Mandiri Utama Finance, has begun offering EV loans with interest rates starting at 1.99 percent and organising test-drive events, arguing that affordable credit is as vital as infrastructure. In Delhi, the policy explicitly excludes hybrid vehicles from subsidies, concentrating support on battery-electric models, while Brazil’s tariff structure aims to nudge global manufacturers toward local production.

The next milestones are now clearly marked. Indonesia’s government must decide whether to finalise the incentive scheme—which includes a value-added tax discount of 40–100 percent for cars based on battery nickel content and a flat Rp 5 million motorcycle subsidy—by August, or risk further erosion of buyer confidence. Brazil’s full 35 percent tariff takes effect in July, and Delhi’s first registration ban for commercial three-wheelers comes into force on 1 January 2027. For global automakers and consumers alike, the diverging timelines are reshaping market calculations across three large emerging economies.