Indonesia says building $1.2 bln battery plant with S.Korea's LG

LX International

24/05/2021 11:56

JAKARTA, May 24 (Reuters) - State-owned Indonesia Battery
Corporation (IBC) and South Korea's LG  003550.KS  will build a
new battery plant worth $1.2 billion with the capacity of 10
gigawatt hours (GWh), Indonesia's investment minister said on
Monday. 
    The plant, part of a bigger $9.8 billion electric vehicle
deal between LG and Indonesia signed last year, will be built in
the city of Bekasi, on the eastern border of the capital
Jakarta. 
    Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia in a statement did not
specify a timeframe but said the factory would be built "in the
near future". 
    "The first phase of construction will have the production
capacity of 10 GWh, which will later be used for EVs from
Hyundai  005380.KS ," he added.
    The LG consortium consists of different LG units, including
LG Chem  051910.KS , LG Energy Solution, LG International
 001120.KS , plus South Korean steelmaker POSCO  005490.KS  and
Chinese cobalt company, Huayou Holdings, according to the
statement. 
    A spokeswoman for LG Energy Solution, the company's battery
production arm, could not immediately comment when contacted by
Reuters. 
    Reuters reported earlier this month that LG Energy Solution
is looking to build advanced battery cells for U.S. EV maker
Tesla Inc  TSLA.O  in 2023 and is considering potential
production sites in the United States and Europe.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2N108S
    Top nickel producer Indonesia meanwhile, has ambitious plans
to start processing its rich supplies of nickel laterite ore
used in lithium batteries and eventually become a global hub for
producing and exporting EVs. 
    Indonesia is targeting to produce 140 GWh worth of batteries
by 2030, officials have said. 
    
    

 (Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Additional reporting
by Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Writing by Fathin Ungku; Editing by
Martin Petty)
 ((fathin.ungku@thomsonreuters.com; +65 8578 6640;))