Antara, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan revealed that a large lithium reserve found in the Indonesian territory can support the production of electric vehicles (EVs).
"I received a report yesterday that a huge source of lithium was found in Indonesia," Pandjaitan stated at the 2023 performance meeting on Friday.
However, the minister did not provide further details regarding the number and location of the huge lithium reserve.
Pandjaitan remarked that with this finding, Indonesia has one of the important components in the development of EVs.
In this way, Indonesia can reduce dependence on raw material imports from other countries.
"We were very concerned about (finding) lithium. We were looking to import them from Australia, but now, we have them, and the resource is so large," he remarked.
The minister affirmed that the large lithium reserve will complement Indonesia's nickel and cobalt reserves for the development of EVs.
On the same occasion, the ministry's deputy for Infrastructure and Transportation, Rachmat Kaimuddin, stated that the country's automotive industry is quite developed although it is still relatively small in terms of the global market.
He noted that the national automotive production reached 1.4 million cars out of which 400,000 had entered the export market.
Meanwhile, he affirmed that the government targets to produce 600,000 electric cars in the next seven years, or until 2030.
Indonesia's current EV production capacity reaches 30,000 to 40,000, which is considered small, he remarked.
"In seven years, we must rise, from 30,000-40,000 to 600,000. We need to prepare the factory, the market, and the (EV) refilling stations," he stated.