Indonesia attracts investment as EV battery materials race heats up

Automakers and raw material extraction companies are flocking to Indonesia as the race to secure raw materials for EV batteries continues to heat up.

While lithium, cobalt, and copper have been the evident focus for many automakers as they pursue electrification, nickel has also seen a similar growth in interest. Nickel is commonly used in multiple lithium-ion battery chemistries, including Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) and Nickel Cobalt Aluminium (NCA). This use has brought the world’s largest automakers to Indonesia, which has the largest nickel deposits on the planet.

Recently, Ford announced it would join a $4.5 billion alliance to construct a nickel processing facility in the country. This plant will undoubtedly help feed Ford’s two massive battery production locations planned for the United States. But more recently, another set of nickel processing plants has emerged from an Indonesian company, hoping to take advantage of the hype surrounding their island’s top metal.

Merdeka Battery, a global battery materials supplier based in Indonesia, has announced that it will construct two nickel processing facilities in the country. According to an initial report from Reuters, the two facilities will have a combined output of 240,000 tonnes annually, and the first plant has already entered development.

To help fund the construction of these upcoming facilities, Merdeka announced that it would launch an IPO, with the target of acquiring $581 million, which will involve selling just over 10% of the business to investors. Merdeka’s website states the company is “currently in active discussions with potential HPAL joint venture partners.”

Luckily, Merdeka won’t have to do it entirely alone as they have partnered with Chinese steel giant Tsingshan Holding Group, who will be instrumental in establishing the two upcoming nickel processing plants.

Merdeka has not announced who they will supply once their plants come online. Still, with such a profound need for the material they are producing, there is no doubt they could supply many major EV makers, both within Asia and worldwide.