President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has urged the country to develop its own electric cars in the future in a bid to compete in the global market, Maritime Affairs Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said on Tuesday (17/10).
Indonesia has the capacity to produce electric cars because the country boasts an abundant amount of natural resources, including materials for making lithium batteries used in electric cars that have been exported, Luhut said without elaborating.
“The president has ordered to stop [exporting lithium batteries]. We want to make our own [electric cars]. We are now collecting great young people of this nation […] in cooperation with the Bandung Institute of Technology [ITB],” Luhut said in Jakarta.
The minister said the use of carbon-emission sources will decline in the future, while the use of renewable energy related products will increase.
“Didn’t you realize that the price of renewable energy related products has gone down? In fact, if we look at the price of solar panels, they used to be in double digits, now it’s in single digits,” Luhut said.
He said the country has been left behind in terms of research and technology.
“I leave it to all of you to focus on developing in technology so that we do not become a market for high technology products from other countries. I think this is more important,” the minister said.
Indonesia has set automotive sales as one of its economic growth indicators.
