Last night, Channel 7 aired the latest episode of their Spotlight program. The focus was on Indonesian mining practices that reportedly result in emission between 9 and 11x higher than Australian operations.
While it’s clear that workplace health and safety practices in Indonesia are clearly lacking compared to our standards here, the main focus and headline of the story targeted electric vehicles.
The show title was ‘The EV con: Spotlight investigation into the deadly side of electric vehicles sold in Australia’.
During the episode, the presenter spent much of the time attempting to make EV owners feel guilty for their vehicle purchase, suggesting they are fueling issues in the supply chain.
The problem with this conclusion, is that it’s not found in evidence.
Firstly, Nickel is used across many industries including Aerospace, Electronics, Chemical, Medical, Stainless Steel production and yes, Automotive.
Battery chemistry is also important to break down. The show failed to differentiate between battery types, of which different automakers use different types.
NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt)
This battery uses common ratios like NMC 811 (80% nickel, 10% manganese, 10% cobalt) rely heavily on high-purity nickel to maximize energy density, which extends EV range.
NCA (Nickel Cobalt Aluminum)
Used in some high-performance EVs (e.g., Tesla models), also depends on Class I nickel for similar reasons.
LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate)
Battery chemistry is a type of lithium-ion battery that uses lithium iron phosphate as the cathode material. Unlike high-nickel chemistries like NMC or NCA, LFP batteries do not contain nickel. Instead, they rely on iron and phosphate, offering a different set of advantages such as improved safety, thermal stability, and lower cost, though they have lower energy density compared to nickel-based batteries.
No we understand battery chemistry a little better, we can now focus on another key point.,
The demand for Class I nickel has surged due to the EV boom, with companies like Tesla, CATL, and LG Chem driving the need for high-purity supplies. Major producers of Class I nickel, such as Canada (Vale, Glencore), Russia (Nornickel), and Australia (BHP), are key players in supplying this grade, often from sulfide ore deposits.
Meanwhile, efforts are underway to upgrade some Class II nickel (from laterite ores in places like Indonesia) into battery-grade material, but this requires costly and energy-intensive conversion processes.
In short, the Nickel coming out of a dirty mine in Indonesia is not likely to meet the standards battery manufacturers require.
Now here’s the kicker.
At the end of the interview, the Channel 7 journalist claimed that ‘with much of the nickel used in electric vehicles sold in Australia coming from Indonesia…’
This is simply not accurate.
Tesla and BYD dominate EV sales charts in Australia and both make their vehicles in China, Tesla in Shanghai and BYD in across Xi’an (Shaanxi), Shenzhen (Guangdong), Changsha (Hunan), Zhengzhou (Henan), Changzhou (Jiangsu), Jinan (Shandong), and Hefei (Anhui). These plants produce the electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles that are shipped to Australia, such as the BYD Atto 3, Dolphin, Seal, Sealion 6, and Shark 6.
Statements from EV makers
At the end of the program, we heard that EV makers were asked to comment on the supply chain and instead of including that detail, the audience were pointed to the show’s website (which a small percentage will actually do).
Well, I did and you can too (here).
Honda, Volkswagen, Ford, Hyundai, Chery, BMW, and Deepal all made efforts to respond to Spotlight’s questions regarding the use of nickel from Indonesia in their EV batteries.
Spotlight also contacted GWM (Great Wall Motors. which owns Haval), GM, Zeekr, Tesla, MG, Volvo, and Audi, but these companies didn’t respond.
All companies were asked if they source nickel from Indonesia directly or indirectly, through a third-party battery supplier.
The problem for Channel 7 and their story about ‘The EV con’.. is that none of these statements confirm the use of nickel from Indonesia’s ‘dirty mines’ which featured in the show.
It’s really disappointing to see information being presented as fact when there’s simply not the evidence to back it up. It’s hard to know what the specific motivations where, but given it’s election time, politics are an unfortunate likely source of motivation.
A simple Wikipedia search reveals 68% of worldwide nickel production goes to stainless steel.
A quote from http://www.bhp.com ….” Adding nickel allows stainless steel to become a much more versatile alloy. Because of this, more than two-thirds of all global nickel production is used in stainless steel.” The commentary from Channel 7 is outrageous in its bias, avoidance, and blatant distortion of, the facts. SHAME ch7 … SHAME!!
Absolutely cheap liberal party narrative
And l heard about the unacceptable behavior of Liam Bartlett with the electric Viking….lying is not the way to earn your living….No wonder so many people hate journalists.
Unfortunately it has already had an effect, some clowns kicked my car door in response to the spotlight causing damage. My car uses LFP technology so not even linked to Nickel
Really sorry to hear this. I’m fast losing what little respect I had for humanity.
Humanity I respect. Journalists, politicians and Istanbul taxi drivers are another matter!
A simple search on this obvious bullshit evidenced it was bullshit
They all do as it is cheaper, as the do cobalt from children slavery.
It only takes 2 minutes to find out the truth
Please tell us what industry uses this class 11 nickel?
That is so typical of Channel 7. No responsibility but incredible impact. B**s€rds.
It’s no secret that channel seven is owned by stokes could this have been a political broadcast for the fossil fuel industries
They all do
The concern for most and not necessarily about electric batteries, was the fact that the disgraceful practices in Indonesia to mine nickel killing hundreds of people and destroying nature, is a disaster to society. Let’s put the focus on the mining of nickel in Indonesia and then do a report on where EV batteries are made, so keep the 2 issues seperate.
I smell an election in the air.
Let’s rephrase some of the content
Channel 7 Spotlight journalist = Legacy influencer.
Is no better than the EV journalist that he challenged in the interview.
Both sponsored by companies trying to make money out of some poor soul.
See what outrage they get if they tried
The Great Tradie con. – Tradies supporting environmental catastrophy….. due to their power tool battery Nickel content.
The Great Phone scam.. No wait, I can’t say that as I have one in my pocket.
…Oops the camera I took the footage with, the laptop I took to Indonesia with me….
Ask if any history with multinational oil conglomerates? Then ask about the damage leaded petrol has done to society over the last century.
In all seriousness. On the face of it, It does appear that there are disgraceful and high negative impact practices ocurring in Indonesia that should not be happening. Everybody should be upset by that.
By the way, I have an EV without NMC batteries for the record..
Great article well done !!
Looking forward to seven’s oil spill documentary.
I don’t trust any media outlet of any description any more no matter what it is..a story is put together using some truth and then adding spice to it..it matters not whether it’s TV or anything else…
Interesting a lot car exhausts are made from 304 steel which about 10% nickel and a lot of the engine parts of ICE cars are also made of nickel alloy steel. Over 60% of the market for nickel is stainless steel. So EVs could end up reducing the demand for nickel.
Class 2 nickel is used in the manufacture of stainless steel, which uses 68% of global production,
You choose to ignore the fact that Tesla signed a $5B deal to buy nickel from Indonesia in 2022
Nope, didn’t ignore it, Tesla (and others) have deals to buy Nickel from around the world. There are lots of Nickel mines in Indonesia, not just the 2-3 mentioned in the story (the worst of the worst).
Take a look at page 113-115 of their Impact report from 2023 that speaks to their requriements to ensure ethical supply chain practices are used by suppliers.
Pages 120-121 specifically addresses Indonesia – https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/2023-tesla-impact-report.pdf
Absolutely no doubt about it.
Leaving aside the issues discussed here for a moment, the behaviour of that Electric Viking thug towards Liam Bartlet was deplorable. Finger poking in the chest, pushing his face up close to Liam’s to try to start a fight are all hallmarks of a bully. Then when approached by someone to say get out of Liam’s face he lied and insisted loudy that it was Liam who initiated the bullying behaviour. Stupid of him as it was all caught on camera. So much for any reputation he thought he’d build by injecting himself between Bowen and Bartlet, Bartlet: 1 . . . Viking: 0. I’d die of embarrassment if I was him and not just due to the stupid Viking name, LOL!
It is wise to remember who has the power of editing the footage.
Agree. I’ve learnt about the application of this nickel and it not going to car batteries but the impact on the environment and people in Indonesia is a disgrace