South Sumatra’s EV fleet more than doubles as PLN opens Palembang charging hub

Top image: Ampera Bridge, Palembang. Photo: Yogwi21, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The number of electric cars in South Sumatra has more than doubled in seven months, according to state utility PLN, which on Friday 25 September opened the province’s first “SPKLU Center” – a cluster of public fast chargers – in the provincial capital, Palembang.

Figures from PLN’s regional distribution unit for South Sumatra, Jambi and Bengkulu (UID S2JB), reported by Antara, put the number of electric cars in the province at 2,047 in July 2026, up from 849 in December 2025.

What has opened in Palembang

The new hub is at PLN’s Rivai customer service office on Jalan Demang Lebar Daun. It adds four new charging units with a combined eight CCS2 connectors rated at 120 kW, alongside two units already on site rated at 120 kW and 180 kW, Listrik Indonesia reported. South Sumatra Governor Herman Deru inaugurated the site.

Across its three-province service area, PLN UID S2JB says it now runs 87 charging units at 69 public charging station (SPKLU) locations, one mobile charging unit and 40 charging points for electric motorbikes at 40 locations. Antara presents the 87-unit figure as a regional total without spelling out whether it covers South Sumatra alone; Listrik Indonesia attributes it to the whole South Sumatra–Jambi–Bengkulu service area.

Charging demand is rising faster than the fleet

Usage of PLN’s chargers in the area has grown even more quickly than car ownership. Charging sessions rose from 1,958 in 2024 to 11,726 in 2025, and had reached 28,176 in 2026 by the end of August. Energy delivered climbed from 44,917 kWh in 2024 to 309,243 kWh in 2025, and to 762,975 kWh by August this year, according to Antara and Listrik Indonesia.

If the 2026 figures cover this year only, as Listrik Indonesia’s report indicates, eight months of 2026 have already produced roughly 2.4 times as many charging sessions and about 2.5 times as much energy as the whole of 2025 (IndoEVs’ own calculation from the reported figures).

Diksi Erfani Umar, general manager of PLN UID S2JB, framed the new centre as a response to that demand:

“The growth of electric vehicles must be matched by the readiness of its infrastructure.” – Diksi Erfani Umar, PLN UID S2JB, via Listrik Indonesia (translated from Indonesian)

Governor wants a charger in every district

Governor Deru used the opening to set a much wider goal: at least one charging point in each of South Sumatra’s 241 kecamatan (sub-districts), prioritising those with heavy vehicle traffic, Beritalima reported. No deadline was given. He said PLN is open to working with third parties to host chargers at government and private sites.

“My hope is that this infrastructure doesn’t stop at the big cities, but reaches into the sub-districts.” – Herman Deru, Governor of South Sumatra, via Beritalima (translated from Indonesian)

Antara also reported the governor pointing to provincial support for EV owners through vehicle-tax relief, though the report did not give details of the scheme.

Part of a national pattern

South Sumatra’s numbers are small next to Greater Jakarta, but they mirror what is happening nationally: EV sales hit a record in August (see our report on Gaikindo’s August figures), and PLN’s charging network has been recording sharp growth in energy use (see PLN’s first-half SPKLU figures). A dedicated fast-charging hub in a regional capital is a sign the network is starting to follow demand beyond Java.

What it means for buyers

• In Palembang: a site with several fast chargers lowers the risk of arriving to find the only charger occupied or out of order.
• Charging speed depends on the car: a 120 kW or 180 kW charger only delivers that power if the car can accept it. Some models, particularly smaller city cars, accept much lower DC charging rates, so check your car’s maximum before planning a trip around a charging stop.
• Outside the capital: the one-charger-per-district target has no timetable, so buyers in smaller towns should still plan around home charging for now. Our guide to charging an EV in Indonesia explains SPKLU, home charging and battery swapping, and the PLN SPKLU entry in our EV directory lists the network’s details.

Related: PLN has since opened a similar SPKLU Center in Padang. Read West Sumatra EV charging use jumps 4.5-fold as PLN opens Padang hub.

Sources: Antara – PLN sebut penggunaan mobil listrik di Sumsel tumbuh dua kali lipat (26 Sept 2026); Listrik Indonesia – Mobil listrik di Sumsel tembus 2.047 unit, PLN buka SPKLU Center; Beritalima – Gubernur Sumsel resmikan SPKLU Center PLN di Palembang (25 Sept 2026)