TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said battery-based electric vehicles would no longer be a trend but rather an inevitability in this world.

“We see that the trend of electric cars has become inevitable although there are debates from conventional to hybrid to a full battery electric vehicle (BEV),” she said in a meeting with the House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday, March 15.

Sri said the public awareness of the environment had been increasing recently around the globe. Thus, the trend of motorized vehicles would undergo a highly rapid transformation, particularly from fossil-fueled vehicles to battery-based electric vehicles, “which are predicted to dominate the global automotive fleet.”

Indonesia, meanwhile, is considered to be the center of the raw material for the battery, namely nickel. That said, she underlined that the government must respond to it by developing the downstream industry in line with the rapid transformation of electric vehicle technology.

“We cannot wait long because the technology may change,” Sri remarked. “Indonesia as the largest nickel producer with the largest reserves will be the center of attention for the development of BEV or the EV battery,” she explained.

Therefore, Sri Mulyani said the government was committed to taking advantage of this global technology trend, which was also in line with the climate change issue, “with our ability to build and increase the competitive power of the battery-based automotive industry.”

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CAESAR AKBAR