Indonesia bets on SE Asia's first battery plant to become EV hub

The Manila Times

Indonesia bets on SE Asia's first battery plant to become EV hub  Rows of robotic arms move with precision to assemble nickel-based battery cells on the production line at Indonesia's inaugural electric vehicle battery plant, the first in Southeast Asia.  After being chosen by a joint venture of South Korea's Hyundai and LG for the $1.1 billion factory, Indonesia is now looking to boost investment to give it an edge in the race to become a regional EV hub.  But while the country boasts the world's largest nickel reserves, analysts pointed out that it still faces a battle owing to its poor processing and refining capacity, environmental worries and the rise in other types of batteries.  AFP VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes  #worldnews  #southeastasia  #nickel

Transcript

00:00This factory has the newest technology adapted in this factory and in the near future the

00:24material comes from Indonesia, make a battery cell in Indonesia, make an electric vehicle

00:30in Indonesia.

00:31This is why the ecosystem in Indonesia is very important in this factory.

00:36Bright outlook, bright outlook.

00:39It's getting bigger and bigger, the electric vehicle market.

00:42And then in Southeast Asia, this is the first and only cell manufacturing.

00:51And the Indonesian government, this factory and ecosystem is very important in Indonesia's

01:00future.

01:01It is a goal that should be appreciated, but then the country also needs to be realistic

01:05in understanding where it needs to go.

01:07What happened in Indonesia for the last five to ten years shows us that just by having

01:11a nickel production doesn't mean we can rule the entire supply chain of electric vehicles.

01:16Right now we produce about half of global nickel production, but you only have about

01:190.4% of the battery production capacity.

01:23So this tells us that today we're competing with many countries.

01:26Today we have seen there has been a lot of negative coverage on Indonesia's nickel products

01:32because oftentimes there's a lot of compromises in environmental, social and governance standards.

01:37So this means that moving forward, if Indonesia wants to be relevant in the global value chain,

01:42it needs to raise the standards, otherwise it will be left out.

01:45And keep in mind that there's a lot of other competitors as well.

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