JAKARTA: Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp plans to invest twenty-seven. 1 trillion rupiah (US$1. 80 billion) in Indonesia in the next five years to produce electric vehicles (EVs), Indonesia’s economics ministry said on Wednesday (Jul 27).
The Southeast Asian country seeks to become a global center for producing and exporting EVs through processing its rich supplies of nickel laterite ore for use in lithium batteries.
A string associated with other global businesses has already announced huge investments in this area including South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group plus LG Energy Options, an unit associated with LG Group.
Indonesia’s chief economics minister Airlangga Hartarto said in a declaration Toyota had spent 14 trillion rupiah in the country since 2019.
“I think demand for EVs whether its four-wheels or two-wheels keeps increasing in Indonesia and ASEAN, ” Airlangga said right after meeting Toyota’s Vice Chairman Shigeru Hayakawa a day earlier in Tokyo.
Indonesia, which has a population of 270 million, is designed to sell only electric cars and motorbikes by 2050 to change vehicles powered simply by combustion engines, the minister has said, since the country seeks to lessen its carbon emissions.
The nation has additionally set a focus on of having 13 mil electric motorcycles – including converted ones – and second . 2 million electric cars on its roads by 2030.
Toyota programs to produce various types of hybrid EVs in its pipeline over the next 4 years, according to the ministry’s statement.
“We hope with this extra investment, Indonesia’s authorities understands our seriousness to invest in EVs, ” Toyota’s Hayawaka was quoted as saying in the statement.
Toyota declined to give details of the investment decision discussed in the conference.
On Wednesday, Indonesia also declared that Mitsubishi Motors Corp planned to invest about 10 trillion rupiah in Indonesia between 2022 and 2025 to produce hybrid and battery EVs.
The investment obligations by the Japanese car makers come as Indonesian President Joko Widodo visits Japan immediately to promote economic ties.