Australian lithium to supply Indonesian battery manufacturing
Australia and Indonesia are forging closer economic ties built on what each country can offer the other in the transition to clean energy.
Indonesia is emerging as a maker of electric vehicles and the batteries that power them.Australia has the lithium reserves Indonesia needs to do this.
By 2025, Indonesia wants at least 20% of the cars it produces to be electric. That's about 400,000 cars.
To produce electric vehicles, Indonesia has established joint ventures with Korea’s Hyundai and China’s SGMW.
Their goal is to become a hub of electric vehicle battery manufacturing. This would take advantage of Indonesia’s rich nickel deposits. -
But Indonesia lacks other key ingredients, most notably lithium.Australia supplies around half the world's lithium, and it's proximity to Indonesia makes it a favourable supplier.
It's a potential win for Australia, with global supply-chain disruptions and Chile's plans to nationalise its lithium industry, threatening the existing export industry.
Although Australia is the world’s largest producer of spodumene, a mineral rich in lithium, it has limited capacity to refine it into the lithium hydroxide used to make batteries.