Hyundai, LG open first EV battery plant in Indonesia


Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution inaugurated the opening of the first electric vehicle battery production plant in Indonesia last week.
With an annual battery cell capacity of 10 Gigawatt-hours (GWh), the plant is capable of supplying the battery packs needed for over 150,000 EV units, starting with the Kona Electric followed by various Hyundai and Kia models.
The opening of the plant is part of both parties’ commitment to invest up to $9.8 billion (RM46.14 billion) to develop the EV supply chain in the largest economy in Southeast Asia.
Hyundai and LGES are also prepared to develop the second phase of the plant involving a $2 billion (RM9.42 billion) investment to increase the annual battery cell capacity by 20 GWh.
Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, explained that the battery plant will strengthen Indonesia in the global EV supply chain.
“This is the first and largest EV battery cell plant in Southeast Asia, and I believe we will be able to compete with other countries due to the availability of nickel, bauxite, and copper resources here,” he said.
Indonesia has the world’s largest nickel reserves, where the country imposed a ban on raw nickel exports in 2020 to encourage investment in domestic metal processing.

Someone who loves driving manual cars but prefers riding an automatic scooter. Maybe it's an age thing.