Not Tesla, Erick Thohir Invites Electric Car Manufacturers To Build A Factory In Indonesia

JAKARTA - Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir brings good news from the results of his working visit to England. One of them is related to cooperation with electric vehicle manufacturer Arrival Ltd.

Erick through the Mining BUMN Holding, MIND ID invites Arrival Ltd, to build a micro battery factory and develop electric vehicles (EVs) in Indonesia.

"BUMN continues to encourage downstream natural resources to increase the selling value of commodities, and open more jobs in the country. This time SOEs through MIND ID collaborate with Arrival Ltd, an electric vehicle manufacturer from the UK to build a micro battery factory and develop electric vehicles (EVs) in Indonesia," Erick wrote on his official Instagram account @erickthohir, quoted Friday, October 7.

Erick said, as a non-block country, has abundant natural resources, and a large market, Indonesia has added value to collaborate.

"Hopefully this collaboration can make Indonesia the main producer of batteries for electric vehicles in the Southeast Asian region," he explained.

In the video uploaded by Erick, it can be seen how the manufacturing process of electric vehicles at Arrival Ltd is. Erick was surprised to learn that Arrival Ltd used battery cells from LG, not homemade.

"Why (why)?, yes, this is the problem, they also buy batteries from LG. But the most expensive thing is the battery cell," said Erick.

Erick also had a dialogue with the head of the British electric car company. On that occasion, Erick explained the potential of Indonesia. He said, there are three positive things that can be added value for investors to invest in the country.

The three positive things are large markets; natural resources (SDA) to economic growth which is estimated to reach an average of 5 percent per year until 2045.

"This is why we as the government want to create an alternative for the world as a new supply chain. Not only natural resources, food and energy, and so on, we want to create Indonesia as one of the hubs in Southeast Asia and we see many global-scale companies proven to have the same vision as us," he said.