Nickel and Lithium Ferrophosphate (LFP) batteries are currently at the center of discussion among Indonesian people. Moreover, it makes the national political atmosphere chaotic.
People who initially didn’t know about nickel and LFP batteries are now starting to get busy talking about these two batteries. It all started with the 2024-2029 Indonesian Vice Presidential Candidate Debate event which was attended by Muhaimin Iskandar, Gibran Rakabuming, and Mahfud MD.
During the event, Gibran Rakabuming asked Muhaimin Iskandar about the nickel battery exploration currently being carried out by the Indonesian government. It is known that one of the members of Muhaimin Iskandar’s success team, Thomas Lembong, criticized the excessive nickel exploration in Indonesia.
According to Thomas Lembong, this condition caused nickel prices on the global market to fall. Apart from that, many nickel users or consumers are wary of collaborating with Indonesia regarding the use of nickel.
Thomas Lembong even said that currently nickel has been abandoned by the industrial world, one of which is automotive. They are busy trying to find a new alternative, namely LFP batteries.
“Even Teslas made in China use LFP batteries,” said Thomas Lembong.
This statement was then used as an attack by Gibran Rakabuming against Muhaimin Iskandar. According to him, nickel has not been abandoned by the world industry. Tesla even still uses nickel batteries for its electric cars.
“This is a bit strange, yes, people who often talk about the LFP are about the timing, but the vice presidential candidate doesn’t understand. It’s said that Tesla doesn’t use nickel, Tesla uses nickel. Indonesia is the country with the largest nickel reserves in the world. If you want to promote the LFP, it’s the same as promoting Chinese products,” Gibran quipped.
In this debate, Muhaimin Iskandar gave a basic answer regarding the question of why his successful team seemed to promote LFP rather than nickel. He said that ethics in exploration is most needed, both nickel and LFP.
“The potential of our natural resources must be promoted, but it must be noted that nickel exploration is reckless and then downstream without ecological and social considerations. Our workers ignore it and there are also accident victims. On the other hand, our income from nickel is very small. Our nickel is more of a product, isn’t it? “The bargaining price has risen, instead we have become victims of our policies,” explained Muhaimin Iskandar.
The debate over nickel and the LFP itself finally spread beyond the Vice Presidential Candidate debate. Even several government officials such as the Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia and the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut B Pandjaitan have joined in defending the nickel exploration currently being carried out by Indonesia.
“It is not true that what is said is that the Tesla factory in Shanghai uses 100 percent LFP for its electric cars. They still use nickel-based batteries, which are supplied by LG. Apart from that, the public needs to know that nickel-based lithium batteries can be recycled, while lithium batteries “So far, LFP cannot be recycled,” wrote Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan on his Instagram account.
This debate continues to this day. Especially to large-scale exploration which Muhaimin Iskandar’s camp believes does not prioritize ethics, especially environmental ethics.
For the automotive sector, it is believed that large-scale nickel exploration in the country is one way to become a major player in the world’s electric vehicle industry. As Gibran Rakabuming said, Indonesia has the largest nickel reserves in the world.
Of course, this potential will be an attraction for world automotive industry players who are focused on developing electric vehicles.
The potential can already be seen when three large manufacturers have built battery factories in Indonesia, namely Hyundai Motor, LG Group and Foxconn.
“I am very confident that this industry will grow fast, it will grow very fast,” said the President, who was familiarly known as Jokowi last year.
It’s just that currently, according to NASDAQ, global automotive industry players have started to maximize the use of LFP batteries. For example, Ford, Daimler, Volkswagen, Tesla, and Mercedes-Benz have switched from nickel batteries to LFP.
“This LFP offers a lower cost alternative to the nickel cobalt manganese cells commonly used in electric vehicles. This battery differs from other compositions, such as lithium-ion, due to the unique properties of iron phosphate as a cathode material,” wrote Nasdaq.
The use of LFP itself is believed to be one solution to realizing affordable electric cars. The reason is that until now the price of existing electric cars has been difficult to reduce below IDR 500 million.
The presence of LFP makes it possible to provide electric cars at affordable prices. At the same time, market coverage will be wider and sales volume will increase.
“This promising condition has prompted many automotive manufacturers to invest large amounts in LFP battery manufacturing,” stressed Nasdaq.
Regarding environmental ethics, which was criticized by Muhaimin Iskandar, LFP batteries are better than nickel.
“Unlike some other compositions that may contain cobalt, nickel, or manganese, LFP batteries are cobalt-free and have a lower environmental impact,” explains Nasdaq.
