Indonesia may need to reconsider its strategy to develop a downstream nickel industry as the electric vehicle (EV) industry seeks alternatives to the metal it is abundant in. The shift from nickel-based EV batteries to lithium iron/ferro phosphate (LFP) batteries is expected to gain momentum in the rapidly changing market. The most common type of cathode in EV batteries today contains nickel, manganese, and cobalt (NMC) as well as lithium. The relatively new LFP batteries, with iron cathodes, are about 20% cheaper than producing NMC batteries. Market research firm Power Technology Research (PTR) projected that LFP batteries would make up more than 50% of the market by 2025, beating out NMC batteries, which had around a 70% share of the market in 2021. Despite Indonesia's extensive nickel reserves, it remains uncertain whether nickel batteries will dominate EV growth in the country. The government should consider developing domestic stainless-steel production given the country's abundance of rotary kiln electric furnace (RKEF) smelters, which are used to produce nickel pig iron (NPI) and ferronickel. The Energy Shift Institute predicts that Indonesia will produce less than 0.4% of the world's total EV battery energy this year, a share it says could persist until at least 2030.Link di fonte: https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2024/03/08/battery-evolution-erodes-indonesias-nickel-edge.html (ICE GIACARTA)

Fonte notizia: The Jakarta Post, 8 March 2024