Karawang 15 GWh EV Battery Factory Can Supply Up To 300,000 Electric Cars

Illustration of electric cars (pixabay)

JAKARTA - Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia said that the electric vehicle (EV) battery factory in Karawang with a capacity of 15 GWh could be used for 300 thousand cars.

"For this location, Mr. President, we inaugurate the groundbreaking of 15 GWh. 15 GWh is the same as if we convert to cars, car batteries, which is approximately 250,000 to 300,000 cars," Bahlil said in the Groundbreaking (first stone planting) of the Electric Vehicle Battery Industry Ecosystem Integrated by the ANTAM-IBC-CBL Consortium in the Artha Industrial Hills (AIH) Area, quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, June 29.

Not only building electric batteries for EVs, Bahlil also projects the area to build a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).

The BESS will later be used to store electrical energy from solar panels.

However, there are no details on how much capacity is allocated for the construction of BESS.

"God willing, they are willing to develop (BESS), so that all products are domestic," said Bahlil.

On this occasion, President Prabowo Subianto laid the first stone for the construction of the Electric Vehicle Battery Industry Ecosystem Integrated Consortium ANTAM-IBC-CBL project in the Artha Industrial Hills (AIH) area, in Karawang, West Java, Sunday.

The ANTAM-IBC-CBL Consortium Integrated Electric Battery Industry Ecosystem Project is an industrial development from upstream to downstream consisting of six integrated projects jointly developed between PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (ANTAM), Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC), and the CATL Consortium, Brunp, Lygend (CBL).

A total of five projects were developed in the East Halmahera FHT area and one project was developed in Karawang.

The battery factory in Karawang, which is located on an area of 43 hectares, is operated by a joint venture company PT Contemporary Amperex Technology Indonesia Battery (CATIB) resulting from the IBC collaboration with CBL, a subsidiary of the world battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL).

The plant is targeted to have an initial capacity of 6.9 GWh in the first phase and an increase of up to 15 GWh in the second phase. Commercial operations are scheduled to begin at the end of 2026.

In East Halmahera, ANTAM and Hong Kong CBL Limited (HK CBL) have formed PT Feni Haltim (PT FHT) to develop a new energy industrial area consisting of a nickel mining project, a pyromethalurgy smelter with a capacity of 88,000 tons of referenced nickel alloy per year (2027).

In addition, it also produces 55,000 tons of Mixed Hydroxide Precipitate per year (2028), a Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM) cathode manufacturer of 30,000 tons per year (2028), and a battery recycling facility that produces 20,000 tons of sulfate and lithium carbonate metals per year (2031).