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As the Toyota Motor Corp. coped this year with a global recall of more than 8.5 million vehicles for dangerous defects — including its popular hybrid Prius model — its executives may have taken some solace in knowing they wouldn’t have to worry about returns of the gas-electric car in Indonesia. They are as rare as a Javanese rhino here.

Prius, the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, first went on sale in Japan in 1997 and was introduced worldwide four years later. Hybrid cars combine a conventional internal-combustion engine with an electric propulsion system to achieve better fuel efficiency.

The Prius has been ranked as among the cleanest vehicles sold in the United States based on smog forming and toxic emissions, and is currently available in more than 40 countries and regions. Nearly 2 million people worldwide drive this environmentally friendly sedan.

But not, of course, in Indonesia. Despite its global popularity and fuel efficiency, there are only 13 Prius vehicles on the country’s streets, eight of them in Jakarta. Another 10 Toyota-produced Lexus hybrid vehicles are on order. That’s a sad showing for a country that ranks eighth in car sales in Asia.

The obvious question is: Why are there so few hybrid cars in Jakarta,  given that vehicle emissions here  account for 70 percent of total pollution?

“There is very little demand for the Prius in this country. It’s a pricey car,” said Achmad Rizal, chief of marketing communications for Toyota in Indonesia.

In Japan or the United States, a Prius costs about Rp 300 million ($32,400), but in Indonesia the price tag is nearly double.

“We don’t have a choice — the government imposes a high tax on imported cars, and that includes the Prius,” Achmad said.
Since 2006, he said, Toyota along with the Indonesian Automotive Industries Association (Gaikindo) has pleaded with the central government to give special incentives in the form of tax reductions to hybrid-vehicle buyers. If hybrids such as the Prius become more affordable, industry officials reckon, it  could reduce gasoline consumption and vehicle emissions in Indonesian cities, Jakarta the largest among them.

The government thus far has been unmoved by the logic.

“Those hybrid cars fall in the category of luxury goods,” said Evy Suhartantyo, spokesman for the Directorate General of Customs. “I agree on the environment argument, but if we lower the tax, please tell me who will put money in our country’s pocket?”

Evy did concede that the government is at least considering reducing taxes on imported hybrid vehicles, but will keep them firmly in place for other luxury cars.

“We have considered it, and might announce something soon enough,” Evy said.

However, industry officials say it should’ve been done long ago, given the environmental and economic benefits, which have prompted many other countries from North America to Europe to Japan to give tax breaks for hybrids.

“The Indonesian government should give incentives to hybrid car owners, just like elsewhere,” said Freddy Sutrisno, secretary general of Gaikindo. “More than 70 percent of Indonesians can only afford to buy cars within a price range of a maximum of Rp 200 million, and that’s exactly why we won’t see too many hybrid cars on the streets. People simply can’t afford it.”

Price is just one thing that’s keeping Jakarta from becoming a greener city — in India, the Reva electric car sells for as little as $6,000 and there is nothing comparable here.

Another is that of the 500,000 new cars sold annually in Indonesia, more than 30 percent are in the capital, meaning more emissions each year and more cars idling on Jakarta’s congested roads.

The Mekatronic and Electric Power Research Center in Bandung, and Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University have both unveiled Indonesian prototype gas-electric hybrid cars, but unless investors come forward, they may never be seen on the street. Industry minister MS Hidayat has said that representatives of Japan’s four major automobile producers have all expressed interest in producing low-cost, eco-friendly vehicles here for as little as Rp 70 million each but to date no deal has been signed.

Even if the government changes its mind on the luxury tax on imported hybrids, Freddy said, the country’s infrastructure might not be ready to accommodate them.

“Hybrid cars use a special fuel called pertaDEX. There used to be several gas stations here that sold it, but then it decreased to only three. Now it’s only sold in jerrycans. The stations think, ‘Why bother building an expensive pump specially for pertaDEX when only a few [motorists] buy it?’ ” he said.

“I think we have a long way to go before seeing hybrid cars cruising on our streets because it’s too complicated. For now, the government should just concentrate on upgrading emission standards for the country, since we are currently still adopting the Euro 2 standard.”

Currently, emissions of nitrogen oxides, total hydrocarbons, non-methane hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter are regulated for most vehicle types. European Union emission standards define the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of new vehicles sold in EU member states. The emission standards are defined by five categories, each with increasingly stringent standards. These standards are adopted worldwide, including in Indonesia.

While EU members states currently impose the highest, Euro 5, and some Asian nations are already using the Euro 4 standard, Indonesia is stuck on Euro 2. As a result, cars in Indonesia produce twice as much carbon monoxide  as vehicles in some neighboring countries.

“In Indonesia, gas stations sell gasoline that has a high sulfur content. Even too high for the Euro 2 standard,” Freddy said.

Under Euro 2, sulfur in gasoline should not exceed more than 500 parts per million (ppm) per liter. In Indonesia, however, most stations sells gasoline that contains up to 3,500 ppm per liter. Higher sulfur content results in higher emissions in the form of sulfur dioxide, which can cause health problems in humans. By comparison, Japan has adopted the Euro 4 standard, and its gasoline has a sulfur content of only 10 ppm per liter.

Given Indonesia’s pollution woes, some argue that it makes more sense to introduce vehicles here that run on compressed natural gas (CNG) instead of hybrid cars.

“The government should think about giving more subsidies for CNG than regular fuel, like they have in the past,” said Ridwan Panjaitan, head of the law enforcement division at the Jakarta Environmental Management Board. “Emissions from vehicles contribute 70 percent of total [air] pollution, and since most people can’t afford to buy hybrid cars, it’s a cheaper option to convert from fuel to CNG.”

Compressed natural gas is a fossil-fuel substitute for gasoline, diesel, and propane fuel. Compressed and largely made from methane, it does produce greenhouse gases, but it’s cleaner than other fuels. It is increasingly common in public vehicles in Asia that have had their engines converted for CNG use.

In Jakarta, the busway’s buses run on CNG, and have ever since the system began operations in 2005. In 2008, then-vice president Jusuf Kalla said provincial governments would soon be required to convert all public buses and taxis to CNG as part of a drive for cleaner energy. The program appears, however, to have foundered.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of gasoline-powered public buses spew out choking black smoke. And a plan to replace the city’s fleet of noisy, dirty three-wheeled bajaj with new CNG-fueled models also ran afoul of the luxury tax last year and it is unclear whether  the new bajaj will prevail.

“If we encourage public buses and private cars to convert to CNG, we would witness a significant reduction in emissions,” said Ridwan from the environmental management board, noting that converter kits only cost Rp 10 million. “After that, we mustn’t forget to add more CNG stations on the streets so people have easy access.”  Currently, there are only seven CNG stations in Jakarta.

If the government goes down the route of hybrid cars such as the Prius to fight pollution, analysts said, it must give import tax exemptions or reductions, in addition to reducing the sulphur content of gasoline and having stricter emissions checks.

It’s not an easy task. One city official said when asked about current emission checks that bus operators routinely “rent” equipment to help pass the city-regulated emission test. “After they pass, they give the equipment back. It’s a business and very hard to stop,” said the official.