Toyota Motor Corp plans to invest $2 billion to develop electric vehicles (EV) in Indonesia over the next four years, starting with hybrid vehicles. This was made known by Indonesia’s coordinating ministry for maritime affairs.

“From 2019 to 2023, we will progressively increase our investment to 28.3 trillion rupiah ($2.00 billion),” Toyota president Akio Toyoda was quoted as saying in a statement released by the ministry on Thursday.

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The Japanese carmaker said this month that it aimed for half its global sales to be from electric vehicles by 2025.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, has plentiful reserves of nickel laterite ore, a vital ingredient in the lithium-ion batteries used to power EVs, and has been making a push to attract foreign carmakers.

“Because the Indonesian government already has an electric vehicle development map, Toyota considers Indonesia as a prime EV investment destination,” Toyoda said in the statement.

Yetunde Adegoke (Reuters)