JAKARTA: Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan says Indonesia will target African countries as a market for sales of locally produced electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

The senior minister said on Monday at the International Battery Summit that many had estimated the African population would multiply by 2045 and by then it would become a huge market.

He also mentioned that he had visited Africa to establish communication with local partners in the bloc regarding EV industry development. “They see Indonesia as a country that can assist them with EVs,” Luhut said, adding that in September he would be discussing plans for EV cooperation with African countries at the Indonesia-Africa Forum.

EV cooperation with Africa would add to a long list of ongoing partnerships between Indonesia and countries in the bloc, with Luhut citing state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina, which has worked together with Kenya, as well as state-owned utility company PT PLN with South Africa.

“We will be happy to develop collaborations with them, especially Kenya and South Africa,” he said.

Agus Tjahajana Wirakusumah, special staff member to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said Africa had a better cobalt supply and more potential than Indonesia.

“Although we have cobalt, it’s not as much as in Africa. Our cobalt is attached to nickel,” Agus said.

Collaborating with African countries in the EV industry is expected to allow Indonesia to capitalise on the bloc’s cobalt resources. “This cobalt potential can be worked together,” he said.

Indonesia on July 3 launched its first EV battery plant, which is a joint-venture between South Korean manufacturers Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution (LGES) and can produce up to 10 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery cells every year.

President Joko Widodo hailed the opening as “a new chapter” that underscored the resource-rich nation’s ambition to become a global player in the EV supply chain.

China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co (CATL) had expected to start construction on an EV battery plant in Indonesia this January, but the plan has faced delays.

State-owned miner PT Antam is set to partner with CATL to build the battery plant, but admitted in May that construction had not yet begun.

Despite major efforts to push local battery production, Indonesia is expected to produce less than 0.4% of the world’s total EV battery energy this year, a share that may persist until at least 2030, a February report by energy finance think tank Energy Shift Institute found.

The country is expected to produce only 10GWh of EV battery energy out of the world total of 2,800GWh this year.

 - ANN