Jakarta, March 9 2024 – As clear proof that downstream nickel is not just a discourse, the Ministry of Investment/Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) ensures that Indonesia is ready to record new history in the automotive industry with the start of mass production of the first electric vehicle batteries in this country. PT Hyundai LG Indonesia (HLI) Green Power, based in Karawang, West Java, will start commercial production of electric vehicle batteries in April 2024. This momentum not only marks Indonesia as the first electric vehicle battery cell producer in Southeast Asia, but also confirms The Indonesian Government's commitment to support the electric vehicle battery ecosystem development project (grand package) worth USD9.8 billion or IDR 142 trillion.

During her visit to PT HLI Green Power on February 21 2024, Special Staff of the Ministry of Investment/Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Tina Talisa emphasized that under the leadership of President Joko Widodo, the government wants to focus on developing downstreaming. Therefore, the government paid special attention after the groundbreaking was carried out in September 2021.

“Downstreaming is a way to create added value from Indonesia's abundant natural resources, one of which is nickel. So, we then make this nickel process integrated from upstream to downstream, that's why there is the world's first integrated electric vehicle battery investment with a grand package of USD 9.8 billion. "So it is integrated from the upstream of the mine, then to the smelter, then refining, processing, precursor, cathode, then into battery cells," said Tina.

Tina also added that the production of electric vehicle battery cells will make Indonesia the first country to produce electric vehicle battery cells in Southeast Asia to use the latest technology from LG. The implication is that the young Indonesian workers absorbed in this project will also become the first electric vehicle engineers in Southeast Asia. Tina also expressed her hope that downstreaming would be able to create a workforce that is properly absorbed in the sense of having high skills so that the income is higher and able to bring Indonesia out of the middle income trap.

President Director of PT HLI Green Power Hong Woo Pyoung stated HLI's readiness to carry out mass production. Apart from that, Hong also revealed that the electric vehicle battery industry in Indonesia will be able to produce pioneering young engineers who have the ability to manufacture electric car battery cells.

"We have been preparing everything since September 2023. We are ready to carry out mass production in April 2024. We have also 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 the engineers from Indonesia," said Hong Woo Pyoung.

PT HLI Green Power is a joint venture company between Hyundai Motor Company, LG Energy Solution, and PT Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC). PT HLI Green Power's investment is a follow-up to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Investment/BKPM and the Hyundai, LG and IBC Consortium on July 28 2021. Furthermore, in September 2023, President Joko Widodo visited PT HLI Green Power to carry out direct inspection of the process and results of electric vehicle battery cell production.

In the first phase, PT HLI absorbed an investment of USD 1.1 billion and had a production capacity of 10 gigawatt/hour (GWh), consisting of 32.6 million battery cells which could produce approximately 150,000 electric vehicles. In the second phase, expected in 2025, PT HLI plans to increase production capacity to 20 GWh.

(SOURCE)