Indonesia Can Be The Key Holder Of The Electric Vehicle Industry

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Center for Economic Policy Research (PPKE) of the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) Universitas Brawijaya stated that Indonesia is a key holder of the electric vehicle industry with promising market potential.

A senior PPKE FEB researcher at Universitas Brawijaya Joko Budi Santoso in Malang City, East Java, Tuesday said that with the support of natural resources (SDA) for the main raw material for the manufacture of batteries, Indonesia has a great opportunity to become a major player in the electric vehicle industry.

"Currently, Indonesia supplies almost 50 percent of the nickel demand (the main raw material for batteries for electric vehicles) in the global market with Australia's main competitors," said Joko Budi, as quoted by Antara.

Joko Budi explained that Indonesia has the largest nickel reserves in the world which reaches 5.3 billion tons. With these conditions, Indonesian natural resources must be used wisely in supporting sovereignty and maintaining sustainable development.

According to him, the downstream policy echoed by the government is currently the key in providing high added value for the management of natural resources in the country and the Indonesian economy in the future.

"In this context, investment cooperation with friendly countries in the ASEAN region as well as bilateral cooperation G to G and B to B must provide benefits to the country and prosperity of the Indonesian people," he said.

He added, to attract investment that can provide benefits, fiscal incentives and ease of licensing services, it plays an important role in creating a conducive climate for the development of nickel downstream and electric vehicle support industries.

"In addition, harmonization is also needed between the central and regional governments in preparing human resources to enter the nickel processing industry and the electric vehicle industry," he said.

On the other hand, he continued, Indonesia is also a potential market for electric vehicles themselves, where global and national policies continue to be echoed to create a green economy and an environmentally friendly industry.

"This further strengthens Indonesia's potential to become the ruler of the electric vehicle industry," he said.

With the main raw materials for the manufacture of batteries for the needs of the electric vehicle industry, supported by the readiness of human resources and the strength of domestic and foreign markets, he considered this to be Indonesia's main carrying capacity to become the prima donna in the sector.