Indonesia Is Ready To Become The World's Electric Vehicle Industry Player

BUMN Minister Erick Thohir (Photo: Ministry of BUMN)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) formed the Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC) or electric vehicle battery holding. This holding was formed as a government effort to become the world's number one producer of electric vehicle (EV) batteries, primarily for electric motor batteries and stabilizers.

BUMN Minister Erick Thohir said that this holding had been prepared for the past year, at which time the government wanted to carry out a transformation in the energy sector.

This holding consists of PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminum (Persero) or MIND ID, PT Aneka Tambang (Persero) Tbk or Antam, PT Pertamina (Persero), and PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero) aka PLN. Later, each company will have a 25 percent stake.

Erick said that the presence of an EV battery will also make Indonesia more friendly to an environmentally friendly economy or green economy. He said, this holding is also proof that the government does not want to be too late to become a world player.

"Alhamdulillah, we are taking advantage of this very important momentum, the nickel-based EV battery innovation, we are taking bold steps, not to be outdone by RTT (People's Republic of China), United States (US), Korea. We can become global players," he said in a press conference. virtually, Friday, March 26.

Erick said, the formation of the IBC was a testament to the success of the government's plans for the past year. According to him, Indonesia will benefit from the formation of this holding. Because,

Indonesian nature stores a lot of nickel as the basic material for the formation of EV batteries.

"Alhamdulillah, what we have done together, we want to be united, this can be proven. Moreover, we are awarded nickel wealth almost 24 percent of the world," he said.

IBC targets to produce batteries of up to 140 GWh by 2030

The BUMN Ministry is targeting battery production for electric cars to reach 140 giga watt hour (GWh). This capacity is projected to be realized in 2030.

Deputy Minister of BUMN Pahala Nugraha Mansury said 50 of them could be exported abroad. While the rest will be used by the Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC) to produce electric vehicles in the country.

"Indonesia wants the battery capacity to be approximately 140 GW hour in 2030. We will export the 50 GW hour from the production of this cell battery. The rest can be used by the battery industry which will produce electric vehicles (EV) in Indonesia," he said.

In the first stage, his party targets to be able to produce between 10 GWh and 30 GWh. Unfortunately, he has not clearly explained the plan to establish a battery factory and the intended first phase production.

Pahala said, not in the future, Antam will start a study with potential partners for mining development. Then, continued to smelter development.

For the production of electric vehicles in Indonesia, said Pahala, the Ministry of BUMN believes that IBC is capable of producing 10 million two-wheeled vehicles. While four wheels are over 2 million. This production can be realized in 2030.

The investment value reaches IDR 238 trillion

The BUMN Ministry noted that the investment value needed for the Indonesian electric vehicle battery industry is US $ 17 billion, or the equivalent of Rp. 238 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 14,000 per US dollar).

Pahala said the IBC does not only manage one electric vehicle manufacturing plant. However, it is integrated from mining, smelting, then production of precursors, to battery packs.

"So it's not just building one factory, but Indonesia has the mining, the smelting, then the production of precursors, battery packs, we even said that we also want energy storage stabilizers and recycling. The investment required can be up to 17 billion US dollars. , "he said.

Cooperate with Japan and the US

BUMN Minister Erick Thohir said the government had opened options to cooperate not only with the two global electric battery giants, LG Energy Solution from South Korea (South Korea) and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) from China, but also investors from the United States (US) and Japan.

"We also open cooperation, not only CATL and LG Chem but also others. Therefore, in mid-April Pak Luhut (Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment), the Minister of Trade (Muhammad Lutfi) and I to the US saw the potential for cooperation with parties in US, "he said.

Not only that, said Erick, his party also had plans to go to Japan to discuss similar investments. "To Japan too, I want to talk about the same thing," he said.

Furthermore, Erick emphasized that the establishment of the IBC made BUMN monopoly by partnering with only one or two parties. However, there are also many parties.

"But it has to be consolidated, otherwise the downstreaming will not run well and ultimately it will only transfer our nation's wealth to other nations and markets abroad for enlargement and then enter the country," he said.