BYD to manufacture EVs in Indonesia
The Chinese manufacturer is starting there with the three electric models Dolphin, Seal and Atto 3 – the 800-volt series based on the e-platform 3.0. The larger Han and Tang EV models, which are also available in Europe, are not to be exported to Indonesia for the time being.
In the future, exports to Indonesia are to be replaced by local production anyway. According to Airlangga Hartarto, the BYD factory in Indonesia is to be designed for an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles and construction is to begin this year. However, an exact location has not yet been named.
BYD will invest around 1.3 billion US dollars in the factory. After Thailand, Uzbekistan, Brazil and Hungary, this will be BYD’s fifth electric car factory outside China. Eagle Zhao, President of BYD in Indonesia, said that the company is striving to achieve the same market-leading position in Indonesia that it has achieved worldwide. “Of course in Indonesia we also should have such kind of very aggressive target,” he told reporters, according to Reuters.
According to the news agency, the small electric car Wuling Air EV and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 mid-size crossover were among the best-selling electric cars in Indonesia last year.
The Southeast Asian country has large deposits of raw materials, especially nickel. The Indonesian government has therefore been trying for years to attract not only the mining of raw materials but also the processing industry, including the production of electric cars, to the country. Car manufacturers have already invested in various battery material projects in Indonesia. Hyundai and Toyota already have or have announced vehicle plants. Tesla has long been rumoured to be interested in a plant in Indonesia as well.
What is interesting in the case of BYD is that the Chinese company relies on its proprietary LFP battery technology for all its vehicles. This is characterized, among other things, by the fact that no nickel is required – the material that is at the heart of Indonesian eMobility efforts.
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