Jakarta. Tire cord fabric producer Indo Kordsa recently expressed its interest in Indonesia’s electric vehicle industry.

According to Indo Kordsa’s president director Ömür Menteş, the company is well aware of how the world is shifting towards e-mobility, and it seeks to supply the cord fabric for EV-specific tires. Menteş even called Indonesia the “perfect place” for an EV industry since it is abundant in nickel.

“So [EV] is the direction [that the world is heading]. And Indonesia is the perfect place since it owns the nickel used in EV batteries,” Menteş told reporters shortly after launching Kordsa’s first Asia-Pacific technical center in Citeureup, Bogor, earlier this week.

Indo Kordsa chief executive officer İbrahim Özgür Yıldırım said that the new center would help them research new tire technologies for EVs.

“Because of the extra weight and increasing electrical range, EVs would need higher intensity, stronger tires. So the materials of the tires are changing. With the new technical center, it will be a leading technology hub to develop new materials for the future [mobility],” Yıldırım said.

“We [Kordsa] are already in your cars. So the next-generation vehicles will use our products,” Yıldırım said.

Indo Kordsa is part of Kordsa, a subsidiary of Türkiye’s Sabancı Holding. According to the company’s official website, Indo Kordsa produces and processes nylon 66 as well polyester HMLS yarn for tire cord fabric. 

The Industry Ministry reported that Indonesia’s demand for tire cord fabric reached around 51,082 tons. Indo Kordsa’s tire cord fabric is meeting 33.7 percent of the domestic demand. 

Indonesia aims to see around 2.2 million electric cars and 13.5 electric motorbikes on its roads by 2030. The government has also launched incentives to spur EV adoption. 

Nickel is a mainstay for batteries. The country has banned the export of unprocessed nickel ores. According to the US Geological Survey, Indonesia, along with Australia, has the world’s largest nickel reserves totaling 21 million metric tons. In 2022, Indonesia produced an estimated 1.6 million metric tons of nickel.