July 3, 2025: Indonesia has kick-started construction of an EV battery ‘mega project’ in West Java backed by a combined investment worth around $6 billion.

President Prabowo Subianto attended the ceremonial launch of the project in Karawang, which he said would incorporate battery materials production, battery manufacturing and recycling, nickel mining and processing.

The project is a joint initiative of Indonesia’s state-owned miner PT Aneka Tambang, the state-owned investment holding company PT and Indonesia Battery Corporation, in collaboration with Chinese firm Ningbo Contemporary Brunp Lygend.

Prabowo said the scale of the project would be “colossal”.

Indonesia’s energy and mineral resources minister Bahlil Lahadalia said the project should create 35,000 jobs and contribute the equivalent of up to $42 billion annually to Indonesia’s GDP.

Bahlil said the plant will have the capacity to supply batteries for 300,000 electric vehicles and help slash the country’s fossil-fuel imports.

Industry observers say the move revives Indonesia’s ambition to become an EV battery manufacturing hub in Asia, after being dealt a major blow earlier this year with LG Energy Solution’s withdrawal from a partnership project.