Electric motorbikes on subscription for Indonesia's ride-hailing drivers

The problem

Motorcycles are how Indonesia gets around, and almost all of them burn petrol. In Jakarta, transport is the largest source of fine-particle pollution, and motorcycles alone produce at least 45% of the city’s air pollution, according to the city’s own emissions programme.

Ride-hailing and delivery drivers carry the cost. Fuel, food and phone data take about a third of a typical driver’s daily income. An electric motorbike would cut the fuel bill, but few drivers can afford to buy one outright.

What Charged does

Charged was founded in December 2022 to change that. It assembles its electric motorbikes at a 16,000 square metre factory in Cikupa, Greater Jakarta, which runs on solar power and batteries and can make 200,000 bikes a year.

Instead of selling bikes, Charged rents them on subscription, with maintenance included. Its riders work for Grab, Gojek and Maxim, as well as logistics companies and corporate fleets. The range covers commuting and delivery, including the Anoa cargo model with a 200 km range.

What changed

About 2,000 Charged bikes now replace petrol motorbikes on Indonesian roads. Each driver who switches stops paying for fuel, and the tailpipe emissions of that bike leave the street.

Every bike is connected to the Charged platform through IoT sensors that record usage, location and distance travelled. Drivers use an app to check the battery, see their trips and switch the bike on or off. The same distance data underpins the carbon project: the Verra listing (VCS 5930) estimates 23,740 tCO2e of reductions a year over a seven-year crediting period that started in February 2024.