To realize Indonesia’s ambition to become the world’s producer of lithium batteries for electric vehicles, Australia expressed its support for supplying lithium raw materials.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — Indonesia’s path to realizing its ambition of becoming a global producer of electric vehicle batteries encountered substantial obstacles, as stated by the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan while attending a roundtable meeting organized by the Australia Indonesia Business Council (AIBC) and the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Perth, Australia (02 /13).
Despite having large nickel resources, Indonesia has very limited lithium as the main material for the development of the EV battery industry. Therefore, Luhut conveyed the need for collaboration with other parties to realize his goals as an EV battery manufacturer, one of which is Australia as one of the world’s largest lithium producers.
“Australia is the best candidate and our potential partner to develop the EV battery industry as half of the world’s Lithium is in the country of the Kangaroo,” voiced Luhut, as quoted from his personal Instagram page (02/14).
Therefore, Luhut delivered that Indonesia needed to gain trust in order to cooperate with Australia. His party will provide several policy conveniences in a responsible way for environmental impacts.
Responding to the Minister’s statement, Australia expressed its support for making Indonesia one of the world’s producers of lithium batteries. The two countries also plan to jointly develop the EV battery industry while remaining responsible for environmental factors.
Focusing on the downstream mineral industry
Along with Luhut, several state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the mineral resources sector also attended the meeting to explore cooperation with lithium entrepreneurs in the country. The meeting was also participated by Australian lithium entrepreneurs.
Luhut said, “We are aware that the goal of becoming the ‘king’ of the world’s electric vehicle batteries is not an easy matter. Therefore, we feel it is necessary to have cooperation partners who trust and support each other, provide input in realizing better regulations, and more open investment to encourage economic growth and create jobs for the two countries in achieving sustainable development goals.”
Further, the Minister said that one of the key factors to maintaining the resilience of the Indonesian economy in 2022 is the development of the downstream mineral industry with high added value. Compared to the 18 countries and 1 other region that are members of the G20, Luhut claimed that Indonesia is one of the countries that has grown strong in difficult conditions due to the global economic turmoil.
“Currently, Indonesia is starting to focus on transforming into high-value-added industries, including the energy transition sector. One of the embodiments is the battery-based electric motor vehicle industry (KBLBB) or EV,” Luhut concluded.
