Finally, Indonesia has the first electric car battery factory which is claimed to be the largest in Southeast Asia. The factory in Karawang, West Java was even directly visited by President Joko Widodo, Thursday (14/9/2023) yesterday.
It is known that this factory is owned by PT HLI Green Power, which collaborates with Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution. Construction of the factory was completed in May 2023, and began the trial phase. The factory is aimed at ensuring the availability of electric vehicle batteries in Indonesia and reducing production costs.
Jokowi’s presence at the factory strengthens the government’s commitment to making Indonesia a hub or center for electric vehicle production. The plan is that the factory will be fully operational next year.
“PT HLI Green Power will start producing 30 million battery cells starting at the beginning of the year. It will be used to produce approximately 180 thousand cars, the largest in Southeast Asia. “The first in Southeast Asia and the largest in Southeast Asia currently,” said Jokowi in an official statement as quoted from the Presidential Secretariat website.
The number one person in Indonesia has appreciated the process of building the battery cell factory since inaugurating the ground breaking, in September 2021. President of Hyundai Motor ASEAN Headquarters Young Tack Lee emphasized that this battery cell factory is an important supply chain to lead electrification in Indonesia.
“We thank President Joko Widodo for his visit, and really appreciate his continued efforts in leading sustainability initiatives in various sectors. “In line with Indonesia’s vision, Hyundai continues to be committed to leading electrification in the country’s automotive industry,” said Lee in an official statement.
The HLI battery cell factory stands on an area of 330,000 square meters with investment funds reaching USD 1.1 billion (Rp. 16.9 trillion). This facility can produce lithium-ion battery cells with a total capacity of 10 GWh per year to meet the needs of more than 150,000 electric cars.
Then, the Hyundai battery system factory will begin construction in May 2023 by Hyundai Energi Indonesia. This is a subsidiary of the Hyundai Motor Group, the result of collaboration between Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Indonesia and Hyundai Mobis.
This facility was built on an area of 32,188 square meters with investment funds reaching USD 60 million. It is targeted that this factory can produce a maximum of 50,000 Battery System Assembly (BSA) units for electric cars every year.
Hyundai hopes to accelerate Indonesia’s transition towards sustainable mobility that is more environmentally friendly. Hyundai’s battery cell and battery system factory is also expected to support the government’s efforts to develop the upstream supply chain in the electric vehicle sector.
The presence of this factory can also strengthen the mining and processing of raw materials for electric vehicle batteries such as nickel. The reason is, this is the government’s aim to attract other investors to be interested in building a battery factory in Indonesia.
