No Long Time Use, Electric Vehicle Battery Holding Completed In Semester I 2020!

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The BUMN Ministry is targeting the establishment of a BUMN holding that will build an electric vehicle battery industry to be completed in the first half of this year.

The holding consists of four companies, namely PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminum (Persero) or MIND ID, PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (ANTM), PT Pertamina (Persero), and PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero).

"We hope that the formation of the Indonesia battery corporation as a holding company can be formed in the first semester of this year," Deputy Minister of BUMN Pahala Mansury said in a virtual press conference, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, February 2.

Pahala explained that there had been discussions between the four BUMNs and potential partners. So far, there have been several active partners such as CATL, LG and Tesla.

"We hope the timeline can be in the first semester of this year. Hopefully this Indonesia battery corporation can be established and can become a company that will sign the cooperation and develop joint ventures with potential partners," he said.

Pahala explained in more detail the roles of the four BUMNs that will be involved in holding the electric vehicle battery. MIND ID and Antam will play a role upstream in the mining process to smelting and processing of raw mineral materials.

Meanwhile, Pertamina and PLN will be on the downstream side in the process of producing precursors, cathodes, battery cells and battery packs to their storage.

The holding will be a company jointly owned by the four BUMN entities. In the future, the holding will be able to form subsidiaries that can be partnered with potential partners who are currently still in the negotiation stage.

"The name is also a holding, meaning there are companies that will be formed and can be joint ventured with each of our potential partners, whether from China, Korea, the US or Europe," he said.

According to Pahala, these potential partners are considered to be the main global players who can bring capital, technology and the market for the development of Indonesia's electric battery industry.

Meanwhile, Special Staff III of the Minister of BUMN Arya Sinulingga confirmed that there was no political element in the plan to develop the electric vehicle battery industry.

He assessed that based on the road map for the development of the electric vehicle battery industry, battery production could even begin in 2023, earlier than the political year in 2024.

"About politics, there is none. We know from long ago a holding company has been established. In 2023 it has already been produced. This is purely for energy transition and we have been recognized. The world acknowledges. If we open the Tesla website, one of them is expected to be a joint venture. Their partner is Antam. How could Tesla play like that, "concluded Arya.