Indonesia Ready To Mass Production Of Electric Vehicle Battery April 2024

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Investment/Investment Coordinating Agency (BKPM) said Indonesia was ready to mass-produce electric vehicle batteries in April 2024.

This massive production is a new history in the automotive industry in the country, and is a clear proof of the great benefits of downstreaming policies.

"Hilirization is a way to create added value from abundant natural wealth in Indonesia, one of which is nickel," said Special Staff of the Ministry of Investment/BKPM Tina Talisa, quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, March 9. According to him. The tackle was then made integrated from upstream to downstream. Therefore, there is the first integrated electric vehicle battery investment in the world with a budget package of 9.8 billion US dollars. The mass production was carried out through PT Hyundai LG Indonesia (HLI) Green Power based in Karawang, West Java.

Tina assessed that this momentum not only marks Indonesia as the first electric vehicle battery cell producing country in Southeast Asia, but also strengthens the government's commitment to support the national electric vehicle battery ecosystem development project.

Massive production of electric vehicle battery cells is said to make Indonesia the first country to produce electric vehicle battery cells in Southeast Asia using the latest technology from LG.

Directly, this will also have an impact on young Indonesian workers who are absorbed into becoming the first professional workers in Southeast Asia, so that they can improve the community's economy by leaving the middle income trap. On the other hand, President Director of PT HLI Green Power Hong Woo Pyoung stated HLI's readiness to conduct mass production, Hong also revealed that the electric vehicle battery industry in Indonesia will be able to produce young pioneer engineers who have the ability to make electric car battery cells professionally.

"We have prepared everything since last September 2023. We are ready to mass production in April 2024. We have trained engineers from Indonesia for a year and we will continue to provide training. They are very smart, diligent, and competent. We are very proud of Indonesian engineers," he said.

The first phase, PT HLI absorbs an investment of US$1.1 billion, and has a production capacity of 10 gigawatts/hours (GWh) consisting of 32.6 million battery cells that can generate approximately 150 thousand electric vehicles. In the second phase, PT HLI plans to increase its production capacity to 20 GWh in 2025.