7NEWS Spotlight on Channel 7 and 7plus S2025E2 The Great EV Con – The deception driving our green future
“Our workers are dying for electric cars”: that’s the ominous message to Australians from Jay Jaelani, a union leader in the world’s largest nickel processing facility, Indonesia’s Morowali Industrial Park.
Electric vehicles have been sold as a clean, green dream, with hundreds of thousands of climate-conscious Australians getting onboard.
But a special 7NEWS Spotlight investigation set to air on Seven and 7plus at 8:40pm this Sunday, has found some electric vehicles (EVs) are more of a dirty joke.
In a world exclusive, Senior Reporter Liam Bartlett goes undercover in Indonesia where few western journalists have gone before – inside the EV industry’s “heart of darkness”.
Indonesia’s Chinese-owned Morowali Industrial Park and Weda Bay Industrial Park churn out 70% of the world’s nickel – the critical component for EV batteries – and they appear to be operating with no regard for the environment, or even for human life.
7NEWS Spotlight’s cameras gain access inside the facility, which is guarded by heavily armed security, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Bartlett speaks exclusively to workers facing deadly conditions, who have lost their colleagues and risk their own lives everyday so that Australians can drive cheaper Chinese-made EVs.
In one horrific incident caught on CCTV and mobile phone cameras, a furnace full of molten nickel explodes during maintenance, killing 21 workers. Bartlett sits down with the mother of an 18-year-old man who was killed in the explosion, barely six months on the job.
It’s what the Indonesian government and EV industry doesn’t want Australia to see – a mine that pollutes more than all of Australia’s nickel mines combined, spewing out millions of tonnes of CO2. It’s killing the environment, killing the locals, and killing workers in the process. It’s also killing our nickel industry back here in Australia.
Liam Bartlett said:
“For the first time we can show the Australian public and the world the dark heart of the EV industry.
“Without nickel, the batteries that power EVs just don’t work. The problem is that producing nickel can be far worse for the environment than the benefits gained by using EVs in the first place.
“Australia has strict environmental controls on how its nickel is produced. But that was before the Indonesian government threw away the rulebook and let Chinese industry make what’s known as ‘dirty nickel’ at places like Morawali,”
– he said.
So, who is covering up the truth of this potential environmental catastrophe and what can be done to fix it?
The Great EV Con – a 7NEWS Spotlight world exclusive – This Sunday at 8:40pm after Australian Idol on Seven and 7plus
Media Release – Seven
TV Central Seven content HERE
7NEWS Spotlight on Channel 7 and 7plus S2025E2 The Great EV Con
