Automotive Sector SMEs Are Asked To Prepare To Welcome The Electric Vehicle Trend

Illustration of an officer connecting a charging cable to an electric vehicle (EV) at a charging station. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita asked Small and Medium Industry (IKM) players in the automotive sector to be able to prepare themselves for the electric vehicle (EV) trend that is currently developing in the world.

Agus said the government's support in encouraging the growth and acceleration of EVs in Indonesia is end-to-end, including the formation of its ecosystem.

"Because Indonesia has a strategic value that other countries don't have, namely nickel which is very much the raw material for EV batteries. I hope IKM friends will prepare to enter the world of electric vehicles in Indonesia," said Agus Gumiwang as quoted by Antara, Monday 27 June.

Agus asked automotive component IKM players to transform by digitizing their production process.

"This is so that the production process for IKM actors can be more efficient," he said.

According to him, there is no need to doubt the quality of the products produced by IKM in the automotive sector.

Currently, there are 122 SMIs in the automotive sector whose products have met international standards, namely ISO 900, ISO 14001, ISO 180001, and have also met automotive standards from various car manufacturers.

He noted that the manufacturing sector grew at a higher rate than the national economic growth, which has continued to improve in the last two quarters.

"The growth of the manufacturing industry in the first quarter of this year was 5.47 percent yoy, higher than the national economic growth of 5.01 percent," he said.

The pace of the manufacturing industry is also in line with exports of auto parts, which continue to increase every year from 61 million components in 2020 to 85 million components in 2021.

"This is also closely related to Indonesia's efforts to make Indonesia an export hub for motorized vehicles based on the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) or fossil fuel vehicles or EVs," concluded the Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang.