European Electric Car Sales Market Drops, BASF And Eramet Delay Battery Investment In North Maluku

JAKARTA - Two large companies in Europe, namely BASF from Germany and Eramet from France, have postponed plans to invest in the Sonic Bay project in North Maluku.

"Yesterday I just received the news. Meanwhile (the investment) was not withdrawn, but was pending temporarily," Bahlil said quoting Antara.

Bahlil also denied any rumors that BASF and Eramet had canceled investing US$2.6 billion in the electric vehicle battery raw material plant project in Weda Bay, Central Halmahera, North Maluku.

He admitted that his party is currently communicating with the two companies.

According to him, the two companies did not cancel, but only delayed their investment in Indonesia due to the decline in the electric car sales market in Europe.

"Because people's purchasing power towards EVs (electric vehicles) electric cars in Europe is down. So, the market is now down because of competition with cars from other countries," said Bahlil.

In fact, according to Bahlil, the decline in the electric car sales market not only occurred in Europe, but also in the US.

"And America is also now sluggish in its market. Because it is sluggish, demand for its battery is reduced," said Bahlil.

He also ensured that until now the two giant companies had not withdrawn their investment plans in Indonesia.

"Oh no (they haven't withdrawn), we are still in negotiations in talks," he said.

Bahlil further added that there were no concerns about other foreign investors as the two companies postponed their investments.

"This is just a matter of the electric car commodity in Europe and America. (If) everything goes, Korea, Japan, China doesn't have a problem, there are no issues," said Bahlil.