Indonesia is moving toward building an industry to supply nickel for batteries and electric vehicles (EV). Crucially, the country has already banned the export of nickel ore, which is a key component of EV batteries.
The Indonesian government and electric vehicle maker Tesla are reportedly in discussions regarding a potential investment in the country, possibly in Batang, Central Java.
According to the senior minister for maritime and investment, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, Tesla is interested in building a lithium battery facility in Indonesia, as the country has the largest nickel ore reserves in the world. Meanwhile, Tesla has already outlined its vision for scaling the production of its batteries to 200 GWh by 2023 and 3 TWh by 2030.
In June, a Reuters report indicated interest from Hyundai and LG Chem to set up an electric vehicle battery manufacturing joint venture in Indonesia. However, the details and size of the investment were not revealed at the time.
Separately, a group of Indonesian state-owned companies is about to form a joint venture named Indonesia Battery Holding to produce electric vehicle batteries. The new venture will consist of state miners Mining Industry Indonesia (Mind ID) and Aneka Tambang (Antam), state utility firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), and state oil company Pertamina.
(Sources: Teslarati; Reuters; Retail News Asia; Jakarta Globe)
