SOEs Minister Eyeing to Produce Electric Vehicle Batteries in 2023

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State-owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said on Thursday, February 25, 2021, that the government is eyeing to have Indonesia produce batteries for electric vehicles (EV) by 2023 after China's Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and LG Chem pledged to invest in Indonesia while the government continues its negotiation with Tesla. 

Erick Thohir said that the government has produced downstream policies for the electric vehicle industry in an attempt to reduce exports of raw materials, especially considering Indonesia is one of the largest producers of the material comprising a car battery, nickel.

"We don't exactly want to only see nickels being sent overseas in raw form, [but we need to think] how to process them domestically," said Erick Thohir. 

Such condition, according to Erick, has driven the SOEs Ministry to form a major consortium that consists of state-energy firm Pertamina, electricity firm PLN, Indonesia Aluminium, and Aneka Tambang. Erick further explained that the consortium will handle activities related to the development of electric vehicle batteries, upstream and downstream levels, from its mining activities to its battery form and overseas distribution.

The consortium will be partnered with CATL and LG and is hoped to be able to produce batteries for electric vehicles for domestic and international markets in 2023. 

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