NBRI FGD with Industry Players on the Challenge and Opportunities of Future Battery Manufacture
Today, on December 22nd 2020 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, NBRI have recently finished an FGD with key players of industries relating to battery manufacture such as MIND ID, Pertamina, PLN, and Antam. We had discussions on the challenge and opportunities of future battery manufacture from downstream to upstream in the Indonesian industrial landscape. Mr. Agus Tjahajana W. represented MIND ID as the President Commisioner. Unfortunately, Mr. Muh. Ikhsan Asaad could not come and was represented by Mr. Zainal Arifin from PLN as the Director of the PLN Mega Project. Mr. Heru Setiawan will be representing Pertamina as the Director of Investation, Planning, and Risk Management.
The first talk was titled "Development of Indonesian EV and the EV Battery Industrial Ecosystem" by Mr. Agus Tjahajana. The talk highlighted the disruption that will come along with the growth of the global EV industry and how Indonesia can find its footing as a major industry player in the future. Provided with the biggest nickel reserves and production worldwide, Indonesia has the competitive edge compared to other nations especially in the South East Asia Region. Furthermore, MIND ID also described their ambitions for the Indonesian battery ecosystem by 2025. Mr. Tjahajana especially highlighted our past mistakes with coal, and how we should control the technology along with the source.
The talk was followed by another titled "Development Strategy for EV Battery Cell and Pack Industry" from Pertamina, represented by Mr. Heru Setiawan. Like MIND ID, Pertamina, the state-owned oil and gas company, is also highly disrupted by the rise of the EV industry. However, Mr. Setiawan proceeded to highlight Pertamina's efforts to keep up with the market by playing parts in battery precursor material manufacture to battery recycling of spent Li-ion batteries, and even more out-of-the-box solutions such as EV management systems relying on the MyPertamina mobila application.
The last talk was given by Mr. Zainal Arifin from PLN, and was concerned with the EV infrastructure roadmap and the utilization of Energy Storage Systems in Indonesia. The talk emphasized the importance of EV alternatives, even in less developed areas where fossil fuel is hard to distribute to. Moreover, Mr. Arifin highlighted the significance of charging infrastructure from home charging, public charging stations, and battery swapping stations. Home chargers need to be connected to and integrated with a CSMS (charging station management system) in order to better give EV users incentives. Public chargers need to be able to charge EVs rapidly and need to be sufficient in numbers. Furthermore, these public charging stations as well as battery swapping stations need to be connected to customer-friendly mobile applications that notify the availability of stations ahead of time.
The FGD was concluded with an exciting Panel Session with notable Panelists from the Industry, Scientific Experts, and other institutions. Mr. Pratjojo, from Komatsu Indonesia, raised concerns about the decarbonization of industrial heavy equipments. A representative from Sebelas Maret University (UNS), Mr. Nizam, raised further concerns on a couple subjects such as the feasibility of fast charging stations, capability of the Indonesian workforce and the market, and the possibility of incentives for residential powerwall users. Mr. Made, from IOI and IBIMA, asked questions on the holism of the electrification of the automotive industry, the workforce around the manufacturing process, and the demands for decarbonization in Indonesia. Mr. Andika, a representative of NBRI, closed the forum with a question on the preparedness of university-educated experts for the oncoming battery industry, as well as the efforts coming from the industry players.
The FGD was a massive success, and we have managed to gather bountiful information on the future of the battery EV industry. We look forward to further discussions with other industrial players of Indonesia so that we may prepare for Indonesia's battery revolution together.
| Date | : | 21 December 2020 |
| Written by | : | |
| Share Article | ||
|
||