Solar Electric Vehicles recently emerged in the market to solve dilemmas that have been hindering the EVs mass uptake: limited driving range, long charging time, and limited charging infrastructures. The SEV utilization is especially interesting for those who live in areas with many sun hours annually but have limited EV charging infrastructures. Interestingly, Indonesia is located along the equator, lacks EV charging facilities, and has a big market size for SEV. Even more, Indonesia has the urge to boost its decarbonization to meet its climate goals, especially in its transport sector. The combination of these facts leads to the overarching question if SEV could be easily mass adopted in Indonesia. However, the TIS perspective argues that, as part of a complex system of systems, SEV would need not only good technological features but also other “actors, factors and functions” to help it to reach its mass adoption (Ortt et al., 2013). Therefore, it leads to the main research question:
“From the technical innovation system perspective, how could solar electric vehicles reach mass adoption in Indonesia?”
This research is conducted in collaboration with Lightyear – a SEV producer. As Lightyear is aiming to mass produce its SEV, therefore, this research is conducted to explore and evaluate the Indonesian market, so that the best strategy recommendation could be provided to Lightyear so it could commercialize its SEV in a large scale in Indonesia. The qualitative research approach is implemented in this research by reviewing diverse online literature, including both scientific and grey literature.
The TIS Framework (Ortt & Kamp, 2022) and the Ten Niche Strategies framework (Ortt et al., 2013) are used as the starting point of the research. TIS is defined as innovation systems around a specific technology that consists of four main elements: the technology, a network of actors, the institutions, and the demand. Ortt & Kamp’s TIS framework is a tool to examine the TIS of an innovation that is in its adaptation phase to judge whether the innovation is ready for its mass uptake or whether a small-scale niche introduction strategy is needed prior to the large-scale diffusion. The framework consists of three major elements: TIS building blocks (most important aspects needed for large-scale diffusion), influencing factors, and strategies. When certain influencing factors negatively affect the completeness of the TIS building blocks, they pose as barriers to the mass adoption of the innovation. Certain strategies could be implemented to circumvent these barriers, such as the generic Ten Niche Strategies proposed by Ortt et al.
The research is conducted in four major steps. First, basic information about SEV technology is explored. Second, a new framework called “the Best Strategy Framework” is developed to extend and complete the original TIS Framework and Ten Niche Strategies Framework so that the users/readers could select the best strategy based on the combination of barriers that hinder mass adoption of the innovations. Third, the newly developed framework is used to evaluate the Indonesian market and to identify the barriers that might hamper Lightyear’s SEV mass adoption in Indonesia. Finally, by using the newly developed framework, the best strategy that could circumvent the identified barriers is selected and proposed to Lightyear.