(Jakarta, 30th) Indonesia's state-owned battery company and China’s CATL have held a groundbreaking ceremony for their joint venture electric vehicle battery factory in Indonesia, which is expected to start operations by the end of 2026, with an initial production capacity of 6.9 GWh.
This project, with a total investment of nearly US$6 billion (about RM25.5 billion), is a joint venture between Indonesia Battery Corp, state-owned miner PT Aneka Tambang, and CATL—the world's largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer from China. The factory is located in Karawang, West Java Province, and will be Southeast Asia’s largest battery production project once completed.
Indonesian President Prabowo and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif both attended the groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday (June 29). Prabowo said: “This proves our commitment to cooperation with our Chinese partners. This is an extraordinary breakthrough... This is a breakthrough, a tremendous breakthrough.”
Arifin said the new battery factory is expected to have an annual production capacity of 15 GWh, enough to power 250,000 to 300,000 electric vehicles. The joint venture also plans to produce battery energy storage systems for solar panels.
In addition to building a battery factory in West Java, the joint venture is constructing a nickel refining facility on Halmahera Island, North Maluku Province. Indonesia holds the world’s largest nickel reserves.
However, environmentalists oppose the project. International environmental rights organizations and Greenpeace Indonesia have previously called on the Indonesian government to take more measures to protect the areas surrounding large nickel mining complexes.