The News
Indonesia’s first battery cell factory has opened. Hyundai and LG built the $1.1 billion plant in Karawang as Jakarta pushes to step up its high-tech manufacturing. The Chinese company CATL, the world’s biggest electric vehicle battery maker, will also begin building a facility later this year. Indonesia produces nearly half of the world’s nickel, a vital raw material for EV battery manufacturing, and in 2020 it banned ore exports, forcing foreign companies to invest in factories in the country.
The government also offers tax breaks to EV companies to incentivize investment. EV sales have slowed since the battery plant was proposed, but analysts told the Financial Times that Indonesia is set to gain from the energy transition.
