VW Car Manufacturer Will Invest In Electric Car Batteries This Year, Bahlil: Just Pray

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Investment Minister/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia said the German automotive manufacturer, Volkswagen (VW) this year will invest in batteries for electric cars in Indonesia.

"I met them yesterday, VW will invest in Indonesia, they will do it in Sulawesi. Then, the precursor, cathode, is planned to be in Batang (Central Java). Yesterday they visited the location, just pray," Bahlil said at a press conference exposure to investment realization in Jakarta, Wednesday.

Bahlil said that the certainty of VW's investment plan was still around 60-70 percent.

The VW team also reportedly will soon send a team to conduct further exploration.

"Later their team will come, but my feeling is God willing," he said.

Bahlil also said VW had collaborated with nickel mining companies in Central Sulawesi to support investment in electric vehicle batteries.

However, he refused to elaborate further on this matter.

"If the question is, will VW enter or not? Enter. This year," he said.

According to Bahlil, the interest of world automotive companies and manufacturers to Indonesia to participate in building an electric vehicle battery ecosystem is very high.

These investors include LG from South Korea, CATL from China, Foxconn from Taiwan, BritishVolt from the UK, to BASF and VW from Germany.

On the other hand, Bahlil has also held a meeting with an automotive company from the US, Ford, to explore cooperation in a similar sector.

"Ford is the second car player after Tesla. So people believe in our country. If people from outside countries believe in us, how come we don't trust our country? It's like we are still young, Indonesia is good stuff, campus flowers, roughly so," concluded Bahlil.