President Jokowi Visits Electric Vehicle Battery Factory in Karawang

West Java – The Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on Thursday visited an electric vehicle battery cell factory in Karawang Regency, West Java. 

The factory, operated by the Hyundai LG Industry (HLI) Green Power joint venture, will be the largest in Southeast Asia, and is scheduled to begin production early next year.

"Yes, HLI Green Power will start production next year with a capacity of 30 million battery cells, enough to produce around 180,000 electric vehicles. This factory is not only the first, but also the largest in Southeast Asia today," the President said when inspecting the factory on Thursday. 

According to the President, this factory is part of the development of a large ecosystem of electric vehicles that is being promoted by the government. With the development of the ecosystem, Indonesia is expected to enter the global electric vehicle supply chain.

"We can enter the global supply chain, that's where the dependence of other countries on our cell batteries, the dependence of other countries on our EV batteries," the President stated. 

Meanwhile, Minister of Investment/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia, who also accompanied the President, said that the factory has now started trial production since the groundbreaking exactly two years ago.

"Two years ago, we laid the first stone (groundbreaking) for the electric car battery production plant. Currently, production is still in the trial stage, but starting March next year, actual production will begin," Minister Lahadalia said. 

According to the Minister, this factory has applied the latest technology from LG in its production. Of the five factories owned by LG in the world, the factory that uses the latest technology is the one in Indonesia.

Furthermore, the Minister also explained that President Jokowi's visit was carried out to review the expansion of the second phase of factory production by 20 GWh. If the factory has been built, then the production capacity will be 30 GWh.

"So, later LG will build 30 Giga, and this is an investment commitment that we have been talking about, which we have often talked about car battery production, and Insya Allah, now it has appeared," Minister Lahadalia remarked. 

During the visit, President Joko Widodo visited several factory areas, including the electrode line, assembly line, and forming line.