Four Indonesian State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have signed an agreement leading to the establishment of a corporation to produce electric vehicle batteries.
The Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC) is to be jointly owned by oil giant Pertamina, electricity monopoly PLN, mining holding company MIND ID and nickel and gold miner Antam, each with a 25 per cent share.
The IBC now plans to partner with other companies, most notably China’s CATL and South Korea’s LG Chem, the world’s top two electric vehicle battery producers, to establish several joint ventures.
Minister for SOEs, Erick Thohir stressed the establishment of the IBC was only the beginning of a long process and there was still much work to do.
“We hope to implement this by 2022 or 2023 in terms of producing batteries domestically,” Mr Thohir said.
He said IBC had been established in order to penetrate the highly lucrative global electric vehicle market, which he believed would nearly quadruple in size over the next six years.
Indonesia’s own battery demand is expected to grow 30 times over the same period, assuming the Government successfully pushes electric vehicle usage, particularly in the planned new capital city in Kalimantan.
In what might be a precursor to this, Indonesia has placed an export ban on its massive nickel reserves, forcing miners to invest in local downstream industries.
Nickel is a key ingredient in the production of electric vehicle batteries.
Jakarta, 29 March 2021
