Indonesia’s economic leadership is sharpening its focus on the future of electric mobility, and the conversation is no longer limited to building cars or assembling batteries.

At the Jakarta Investment Festival Summit 2026, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Chairman of the National Economic Council, underscored the urgency of developing a robust battery recycling industry. His message was clear: the country must not only consume electric vehicles but also reclaim and reuse the strategic materials that power them. Nickel, a cornerstone of the global battery supply chain, sits at the heart of this vision.

Indonesia already holds vast reserves of nickel and has built a processing industry that feeds into the global electric vehicle ecosystem. Yet Luhut emphasized that the next step is to close the loop. He pointed to BYD’s technology, which can extract nickel from used batteries with a high recovery rate, as a model for how Indonesia could strengthen its supply chain.

Recycled materials would reduce dependence on new raw inputs, creating a more sustainable and resilient industry. The message resonated with the broader theme of building a complete ecosystem, from raw material processing to component production, and now to recycling.

The inauguration of BYD’s production facility in Subang, West Java, provided a timely backdrop for Luhut’s remarks. He urged that foreign investment should not stop at assembly lines but should catalyze the growth of supporting industries. Local component use, job creation, and technology transfer were highlighted as essential outcomes. The government, he noted, must craft policies that balance investor interests with national priorities, ensuring that the electric vehicle revolution delivers tangible benefits to Indonesians.