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The Chair “Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components” (PEM) of RWTH Aachen University is involved in establishing a battery industry and electric mobility in Indonesia. While the country already has all the raw materials, the respective know-how and technologies will in future come from Aachen, helping to establish the corresponding value chain from the battery to the complete electric vehicle directly on site.

For this reason, the Indonesian company “PT. Nalendra Halilintar Samudra” (NHS) and the Aachen-based engineering service provider “PEM Motion” have sealed a collaboration agreement in a Letter of Intent, which has also been approved by the Indonesian government. Together with the PEM Chair, the partners intend to collaborate on projects involving electrically powered scooters, cars, and buses as well as battery production projects. It has already been decided to prepare a business case for an electric vehicle.

“The combination of local resources and a fast-growing market on the one hand and technology know-how on the other is a strong basis for the sustainable development of electric mobility in Southeast Asia,” says Dr. Christoph Deutskens, CEO of RWTH spin-off PEM Motion GmbH. As part of the collaboration, the company will work with the RWTH Chair to bring technologies to Indonesia that can be used there in cab fleets, for example.

“As Indonesia plans to electrify public transportation, we are currently looking for opportunities for local solutions to meet the growing demand,” says NHS Chairman Hendrawan Hendrawan. Thanks to the raw materials available on site, the focus is also on establishing a local battery supply chain, he adds. NHS is currently involved in the development and manufacture of “bobber” electric motorcycles and plans to launch other products in the areas of electric cars and commercial vehicles, electric jet skis, and drones before the end of the year.

“In a global comparison of economies, Indonesia ranks 16th and is even in the top ten in terms of purchasing power,” said Dr. Tobias Traupel, head of the “Europe, Law and Foreign Trade” department at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, at the signing of the memorandum of understanding at RWTH Aachen University’s eLab. “Indonesia is growing rapidly. The agreement is a milestone for North Rhine-Westphalia’s increasing collaboration with ASEAN countries.” For Aachen’s University, the cooperation is “a big step in a partnership with Indonesia that has already existed for many years,” said Professor Thomas RĂ¼de, Rectorate Representative of RWTH Aachen University.

Meanwhile, research and education activities with the PEM Chair are also part of the Aachen-Indonesia collaboration. Global research projects with university partners in both countries could flank future projects between NHS and PEM Motion. “The education and training of specialists for new job profiles and new business areas will play a decisive role in the transition to electric mobility,” says Professor Achim Kampker, founder and head of the PEM Chair. “Universities can support this with comprehensive qualification programs.”

Germany and Indonesia have maintained diplomatic relations for about 60 years. The volume of trade between the two nations was more than six billion U.S. dollars in 2017. To date, Germany has mainly exported machinery, chemical products, measurement and control technology, electronics and electrical engineering, as well as vehicles and vehicle parts to Indonesia. According to forecasts by economic consultants, Indonesia can become one of the world’s ten largest economies by 2030.