Indonesia has become the focus of the global lithium battery industry, and  LG and CATL have invested heavily in the local industry chain

　　According to reports, the "K Battery Alliance", which is participated by  South Korea's LG New Energy Corporation, plans to invest in the nickel resource  industry chain in Indonesia. The core of this plan is to invest 9 billion US  dollars to deploy the whole industrial chain of raw material nickel smelting,  cathode material production, battery cell and battery finished product assembly  in Indonesia.

　　The Indonesian government also confirmed on April 18 that an alliance  composed of LG New Energy, LG Chem, LX International, Posco Holdings and other  South Korean companies has joined forces with Indonesian nickel mine company  Antam, Indonesian battery company IBC, etc. Signed an investment agreement to  build the battery industry value chain.

　　However, this agreement is carried out in a "non-binding" manner, and all  parties need to conduct follow-up negotiations on specific content such as  shareholding relationship and business structure. It is expected that it will  take some time before the final signing.

　　The "K Battery Alliance" is promoted by the Korean government to support  companies in accelerating the development of new-generation batteries such as  NCMA (nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum) batteries, all-solid-state batteries,  and lithium-sulfur batteries. At present, Korean battery companies mainly  produce "high-nickel batteries" with a nickel content of more than 80%, and are  approaching the goal of a nickel content of more than 90%.

　　Market research firm SNE Research predicts that by 2030, the demand for  nickel from three companies, LG New Energy, SKO, and Samsung SDI alone, will  reach 648,000 tons, more than seven times that of this year. Indonesia is rich  in lithium and nickel resources and has the world's largest nickel ore reserves  and output. It is expected that the growth of nickel ore raw material production  in the future will come from Indonesia.

　　According to data from the United States Geological Survey, the world's  nickel resource reserves in 2020 are about 94 million tons, of which Indonesia  ranks first with about 21 million tons, accounting for 22%. Compared with the  data of the US Geological Survey from 2015 to 2020, the increase in global  reserves is about 17 million tons in five years, and Indonesia's production will  increase by 16.5 million tons. In addition, its lithium ore reserves are about  21 million tons, ranking first in the world.

　　SES Power has a long experience in the design and manufacture of customized  lithium batteries, many of which use 18650 lithium-ion batteries produced by  Samsung or LG in South Korea. We know that South Korea's battery technology is  mainly based on high-nickel lithium batteries. The so-called ternary lithium  battery refers to a "ternary material" composed of three elements, nickel,  cobalt and manganese, in the positive electrode of the lithium battery. Due to  the performance advantages of nickel in improving the energy density of  batteries, high-nickel batteries are gradually becoming an important development  direction of ternary lithium batteries. While high-nickel lithium batteries  reduce the use of expensive cobalt, nickel resources are just as tight. SES  Power prefers to use lithium iron phosphate batteries with high safety, long  cycle life, low cost and more environmental protection. We use 12V100Ah,  24V100Ah, 36V100Ah, 48V100Ah of EVE, CATL, BYD square aluminum lithium battery,  these products can be used to replace lead-acid, cost and safety are the first  considerations.

　　Of course, any investment needs a reason. The reason why Korean lithium  battery manufacturers consider establishing a complete lithium battery industry  chain in Indonesia is not only the income, but also the following background  factors.

　　A: The global demand for lithium batteries is increasing rapidly

　　With the global energy transformation and upgrading and the continuous  improvement of carbon emission requirements, the demand for new energy vehicles  and lithium battery energy storage systems has increased rapidly, and the demand  for lithium-ion batteries and battery raw materials metals has also increased  significantly. Sumitomo Metal Mining, Japan's largest metal smelter, said a few  days ago that global demand for nickel for batteries is expected to grow by more  than 20% this year due to strong demand, and is expected to climb from nearly  330,000 tons in 2021 to more than 410,000 tons in 2022.webcam factory

　　B: Inflation + epidemic, constantly pushing up raw material prices

　　At present, the price of lithium carbonate, the core raw material of  batteries, has continued to increase for 16 months, and the price has increased  by nearly 10 times. The prices of important metal materials such as nickel and  cobalt also showed a continuous upward trend. In the case of the continuous  increase in the price of upstream raw materials and the imbalance between supply  and demand, the new energy industry is facing the dual pressure of supply  shortage and rising cost. It has become the consensus of major power battery  manufacturers around the world to ensure the stability of the supply chain by  deploying overseas mineral resources.

　　Building factories and investing in Indonesia has become the common choice  of many lithium battery manufacturers, lithium battery material suppliers, and  even OEMs. South Korea's Hyundai Motor Company and LG New Energy are building a  10GWh battery cooperation factory in Indonesia; CATL has also decided to invest  5.9 billion US dollars to produce electric vehicles in Indonesia.