Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution Ltd. began construction of an electric vehicle battery cell plant in Indonesia to secure leadership in the global battery electric vehicle market.
The Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution announced that they held a virtual groundbreaking ceremony with the Government of Indonesia at the site of the planned plant in Karawang New Industry City, near Jakarta.
Participants from the Indonesian side were President Joko Widodo; Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, and Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. Hong Woo-pyeong, CEO of Battery Cell joint venture and Youngtack Lee, Head of Asia-Pacific headquarters at Hyundai Motor Company, attended the ceremony.
Euisun Chung, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group; Sung Hwan Cho, President and CEO of Hyundai Mobis, and Jong-hyun Kim, President and CEO of LG Energy Solution, virtually attended the ceremony from Korea.
“Hyundai Motor Group is focusing its capabilities on becoming a global leader in the EV market, which is the key to securing future competitiveness. The plant is a part of these efforts,” said Euisun Chung, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group. “Starting with this plant, an EV ecosystem will be successfully established in Indonesia with the development of various related industries. Furthermore, we expect Indonesia to play a key role in the ASEAN EV market.”
“Today marks a significant step in starting a new era of the EV battery industry in Indonesia, with the establishment of its first battery cell manufacturing plant in the country,” said Jong-hyun Kim, President and CEO of LG Energy Solution. “Through the joint venture partnership, together, we are now a step closer to establishing the world’s first EV comprehensive supply chain.” He added “LG Energy Solution will do its utmost to foster the joint battery cell manufacturing facility into becoming a key base to take on the global EV market.”
In July 2021, the Group and LG Energy Solution signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Indonesia to establish a joint venture (JV) in Indonesia to manufacture battery cells for BEVs. The Group and LG Energy Solution announced to invest a total of USD 1.1 billion into the JV, each owning a 50 percent ownership stake.
The new battery cell factory will be built on a 330,000-square-meter parcel of land. Plant construction will be completed by the first half of 2023. Mass production of battery cells in the new facility is expected to commence in the first half of 2024. When fully operational, the facility is expected to produce a total of 10-GWh worth of NCMA lithium-ion battery cells every year, enough for more than 150,000 BEVs. In addition, the facility will be ready to increase its production capacity up to 30 GWh to meet the growth of future BEV needs.
Battery cells produced in Karawang will be used in Hyundai Motor and Kia’s EV models built upon the Group’s dedicated BEV platform, Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP). The new factory will help Hyundai Motor and Kia produce vehicles with high efficiency, performance, and safety by supplying battery cells optimized for the two automakers’ BEV models.
The Group and LG Energy Solution expect to secure a stable supply of EV battery cells in upcoming years, as the global demand of EVs is expected to continue rising. Hyundai will contribute to increase the production efficiency of the plant with its expertise in vehicle and compartment manufacturing. The Group will also help the JV produce battery cells with most performance and safety with its integrated quality management systems.
