At the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Forum in Bali, Indonesia, Axel Maschka, executive vice president of Hyundai Motor Parts subsidiary Hyundai Mobis, said the company plans to establish a “foothold” in Indonesia, where the country “could become an important hub for the electric vehicle market in Southeast Asia and Australia,” according to Nikkei News. The country “could become an important hub for the electric vehicle market in Southeast Asia and Australia.
Pras Ganesh, executive vice president of Toyota Daihatsu Engineering & Manufacturing, noted during the same event that Toyota is also looking to develop an electric vehicle value chain and ecosystem in Indonesia.
Indonesia has been trying to get Tesla to set up production facilities in the country. Earlier this year, Indonesian President Joko Widodo met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk to try to push Tesla to invest in Indonesia.
Indonesia, which has the world’s largest nickel reserves, has a president who wants to develop a strong domestic nickel-based electric vehicle industry and has halted nickel ore exports to ensure supply for investors. BHP Billiton, one of the world’s largest suppliers of the metal commodity, expects demand for nickel from the battery industry to surge by more than 500 percent over the next decade.
