Data Check: Which Electric Vehicle Battery is More Popular, Nickel or LFP, as Mentioned by Gibran?

Vice Presidential Candidate (cawapres) number 2, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, addressed the use of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries as a component in electric vehicle batteries.

He made this statement during the fourth Presidential and Vice Presidential Debate 2024, themed "Sustainable Development, Natural Resources, Environment, Energy, Food, Agrarian, Indigenous Communities and Villages," at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Jakarta, on Sunday (21/1/2024).

In the question-and-answer session, Gibran questioned Vice Presidential Candidate number 1, Muhaimin Iskandar, about the use of these batteries. He asked whether the number 1 candidate pair was anti-nickel, given their frequent mention of LFP batteries, which contain no nickel at all.

“Often talking about LFP, Tesla doesn't use nickel. This is public deception, sir. Tesla uses nickel, sir. Indonesia has the world's largest nickel reserves. This is our strength, our bargaining power. Don't discuss LFP; it's the same as promoting Chinese products,” said Gibran.

Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that the use of LFP for electric vehicles was only 27% in 2022. However, this usage increased significantly from 7% in 2018.

Meanwhile, the use of nickel for electric vehicle battery components in 2022 was still 66%. However, the share of high-nickel batteries decreased from 78% in 2022. This indicates that the LFP market share is continuously increasing while high-nickel batteries are declining.

The IEA notes that approximately 95% of LFP is produced in China. The Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD, dominates LFP usage, accounting for 50% of total demand. Meanwhile, Tesla contributes 15% of total demand.

Although Tesla still uses nickel, Tesla's LFP usage increased from 20% of total vehicles produced in 2021 to 30% in 2022.