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On September 15, President Joko Widodo and Minister of Investment, Bahlil Lahadalia, attended the groundbreaking of EV battery factory PT HKML Battery Indonesia from the Hyundai and LG Consortium in Karawang New Industrial City, Karawang regency, West Java. According to Minister Bahlil, PT HKML Battery is the first EV battery company in Southeast Asia with an investment value of 1.1 billion USD and an initial production capacity of 10 GigaWatt hours (GWh). The production capacity would be increased gradually to 30 GWh.

During the event, President Widodo stated that with the world’s largest nickel reserve owned by the country, Indonesia is expected to be the primary producer of nickel-based industry, including the EV, in the next 3-4 years. The establishment of the said company has also shown the government commitment of industry downstream (processing) to add the value of a commodity instead of exporting the raw materials. President Widodo said that nickel processing as an EV battery would increase its economic value to 6-7 times than exporting it as a raw material, not to mention the benefit when the country exports the ready EV cars. President Widodo claimed that the government is open to foreign partnerships and initiatives.

The groundbreaking came after President’s working visit to Busan, South Korea, last November 2019. The meeting successfully assured the consortium investment plan in the integrated battery industry, mining, smelter, refinery, precursor cathode, and battery cell for EV with the total investment value of 9.8 billion USD. The groundbreaking of PT HKML Battery Indonesia is a part of the integrated projects.

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