It appears that Indonesia’s efforts to turn itself into an EV battery production hub may be supported by the fact that it could offer the lowest manufacturing costs in the whole of Asia. According to a BloombergNEF report, Indonesia’s industrial electricity prices are about 11% lower than China.
In fact, the country is teeming with nickel, cobalt and manganese depositories, which are key raw minerals in EV batteries. This, coupled with low labour and electricity costs, as well as government subsidies, can reduce the total battery manufacturing cost by 8% compared to those made in China, the report adds.
However, one downside to Indonesia’s low electricity price is its grid carbon intensity, which is among the highest in the region at 711 grammes of CO2 per kWh. This may cause manufacturers who are looking for low carbon energy sources to look elsewhere, but Indonesia said it plans to develop new hydro and geothermal powerplants that it says will supply the industry with cheap, low-carbon electricity.
Meanwhile, Indonesia has also announced plans to relocate its capital city from Jakarta to East Kalimantan, and that the city will only use autonomous and electric vehicles for mass transportation. East Kalimantan is a province on the island of Borneo, one which it shares with Malaysia and Brunei.
To further promote EV uptake, there will also be lithium battery-production facilities in the new capital city, with plans to build a hydroelectric powerplant as a low-carbon energy source. Once again, the move isn’t without controversy – the planned city requires massive deforestation, and doing so will further raise Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Borneo’s forests consist largely of peatland, a type of wetland that holds about 12 times more carbon than other tropical rainforests. Just one hectare of peatland can release around 6,000 metric tonnes of CO2 when cleared. Many parts of Borneo’s peatland forest have been cleared via burning for palm oil plantations, which has released over 140 million metric tonnes of C02, an amount that’s equal to the annual emissions of 28 million cars.
Indonesia has promised to not clear any protected forests in Borneo, but the peatlands will have to be drained to support the construction buildings and highways, which could make the turf drier and more vulnerable to fires.
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They also offer coronavirus ontop for free.
You mean China-made coronavirus that was brought by Chinese tourist, into Indonesia and the rest of the world?
And not forget where they don’t give a rat’s ass about the environment. They are killing the environment by foregoing all the necessary steps to filter, reduce waste and recycle in manufacturing. Worst still, all their customers are major western brands. It’s not always about being the cheapest but it’s about sustainability.
Borneo forest mostly burnt by nomad and pulp & paper industry. Linking tropical forest with palm oil is the hallmark of western protectionist and their soybean & rapeseed militants — mostly from Europe who have only a fraction of ASEAN’s forest left. They also have higher cumulative CO2 and GHG per capita since 1800s, self-righteous and sanctimonious hypocrite, as always.
See, even Indonesia is starting to manufacturer high end high tech products. Meanwhile tech investors are leaving Malaysia and rubber products still being a major product manufactured in Malaysia.
Rubber is non-hazardous reneweable resource while cobalt & Li-ion materials are extremely dangerous and hazardous to people, animals and environment. Indons won’t care as long got jobs, and Mesians won’t care until it comes here.
Hi Paul , Thanks for sharing a well-written article, Indonesia has 70% of the world Literate Nickel ore. EV Battery 8 22 model is using 80% Nickel. God has given Indonesia unique resources to develop EV battery. Few investors started producing nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate already. North Kalimantan could offer low-cost Hydro energy with the project lead by Sarawak Energy Berhad and strongly support by President Jokowi and his Cabinet Ministers. Sustainability assessment programs conducted by Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Bappenas, and sponsored by IHA – International Hydropower Association is being arranged, please kindly contact me at [email protected] for further information. Thanks , Vince Gowan, Kadin Indonesia.