Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources' Subordinates Say Indonesia Can Produce 1,143 Nickel-Based Battery GWh

JAKARTA - Indonesia's EV battery industry ecosystem has grown very fast in recent years from upstream to downstream, starting from mining activities to the manufacture of battery packages and even battery recycling businesses.

Special Staff to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources for the Acceleration of Industrial Development of the ESDM Sector, Agus Tjahajana Wirakusumah, said that Indonesia is currently able to play an important role in the upstream side of the battery business.

"Many companies will soon produce beneficiaries of ore to medium products such as MHP or nickel sulfate. Four companies are already operating. One is being built, one is in the process of being licensed, and two are in the stage of a feasibility test," Agus said in Jakarta, Monday, July 29.

Agus said, if all these companies were already operating, Indonesia would be able to play a major role in producing 1,143 GWh of nickel-based battery materials.

According to him, this number should be proud because Indonesia is still a beginner in the electric vehicle battery ecosystem, where Indonesia only started developing the EV battery business 2 years ago.

"This first achievement is an opportunity and achievement that is very important to benefit from the next ecosystem development process steps," he said.

Agus also estimates that the world battery demand will reach 5,300 GWh by 2025 which is dominated by demand for four-wheeled electric vehicles, followed by two-wheeled electric vehicles, buses, battery energy storage systems, and various electronic goods and applications.

Agus detailed that later the demand for electric vehicle batteries would mostly come from three regions, including the United States (US), the European Union, and Asia.

"The demand for nickel-based batteries is projected to continue to increase to 40-50 percent by 2035," he concluded.