Luhut Says China Will Control 48 Percent Of Electric Vehicle Market In 2030: Indonesia Must Play A Role, We Have 30 Percent Of World Nickel Reserves

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. (Photo: Doc. Kemenko Marves)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that Indonesia will produce lithium batteries with the latest technology, namely NMC811 in early 2024. According to him, the trend of nickel content in lithium batteries is getting higher.

"We hope that in early 2024 we will produce the NMC811 ion battery, which is the latest technology that uses the most nickel ore," he said in a virtual discussion, Wednesday, November 17.

For your information, currently nmc batteries are dominated by types 532 and 622. However, in the long term, these two types will be replaced with type 811, because this last type uses a higher nickel content than other types, which is 80 percent.

Furthermore, Luhut said that domestic and global demand for electric batteries increased in line with the increase in sales of electric vehicles (EVs). He considered this good for Indonesia.

"This is good for us. So I gave an example earlier, I was just reported that maybe our iron steel exports could even reach more than 20 billion US dollars and that is very helpful for our economy," he said.

Even so, Luhut admitted that he did not want nickel supplies in the country to be depleted to meet domestic and global demand. This is because it can have a negative impact on the environment.

"We also want to maintain that nickel shipments do not use all of them. So that the environment is not damaged," he said.

Furthermore, Luhut said that in 2030 it is predicted that China will control 48 percent of the world market related to EVs. Therefore, Luhut also wants Indonesia to also have a role in the electric car ecosystem. Especially considering that Indonesia has 30 percent of the world's total nickel reserves.

"Well, we have to play our part. Don't let us have nickel ore supply but we don't enjoy it," he said.