Channel News Asia (CNA) are reporting on the news that PT Indika Energy, an Indonesian energy company, is looking at a USD 2-billion joint venture investment with Taiwanese-based Foxconn on electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing, batteries and energy storage.
Indika like many energy companies has been diversifying its businesses beyond coal amid a global push to reduce the use of fossil fuels. A partnership was established between Foxconn, Indika and three other entities earlier this year in an MoU to collectively invest USD 8-billion in EV and battery manufacturing in Indonesia.
A feasibility study for the Foxconn-Indika venture should be completed by Q4 2022, said Azis Armand, CEO of PT Indika Energy, who said “the main interest is Indonesia’s large domestic market, which has a relatively low adoption rate … though we’re not ruling out export markets like Vietnam and China.”
Indonesia has set a target of having 13-million electric motorcycles – including converted ones – and 2.2-million electric cars on its roads by 2030.
Indika, Indonesia’s third biggest coal producer, through its unit PT Kideco Jaya Agung, has been focusing on boosting revenue from its non-coal businesses, such as gold mines and also EVs.
It aims for 50-percent of its revenue to come from non-coal interests by 2025, from 12-percent, which Aziz said was key to remaining relevant.
“If we look only at the coal sector, our participation won’t be sustainable in energising Indonesia,” Azis said. It hopes to reach the 50-percent target with about USD 500-million of investment in the next three years, most going into its existing projects, such as electric bike brand, Alva, which will be launched commercially in August.
Indonesia has been trying to court Foxconn for years but a previous deal agreed in 2015 collapsed.
Foxconn has expanded EV activities in recent years, announcing deals with US start-up, Fisker and Thai energy group PTT.
Source: Channel News Asia
