CATL begins work on new battery plant in Indonesia

CATL, in partnership with the Indonesian Battery Corporation (IBC), has broken ground on a new $1.2 billion battery facility in Karawang, Indonesia.

A joint venture between the two companies, known as PT Contemporary Amperex Technology Indonesia Battery (CATIB), will build and operate the site, which is part of the Indonesia Battery Integration Project (IBIP). CATL has committed $6 billion to IBIP since its announcement in 2022 with the goal of building mining, smelting and processing infrastructure for battery materials across Indonesia.

IBIP’s design covers the entire battery value chain, with nickel mining and processing, battery manufacturing, and recycling operations all being carried out at the site. It also is set to feature “state of the art technologies” and renewable energy systems that lead to ultra-low energy consumption, according to CATL.

The first stage of IBIP is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. The Karawang site will have an initial annual output of 6.9GWh of lithium-ion batteries, utilising CATL's Lighthouse Factory and Extreme Manufacturing approaches. Speaking at a presentation to mark the start of the project, minister of energy and mineral resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia commented that this output will increase to 15GWh by 2030, making Indonesia "the largest battery producer in Southeast Asia."

At full functionality, the IBIP is slated to produce 142,000 tonnes of nickel and 30,000 tonnes of cathode materials, as well as have the capacity to produce 20,000 tonnes of recycled batteries.

The Indonesian government has a production target of 600,000 BEVs per year by 2030 and pointed to IBIP and similar projects as being integral to achieving this goal. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investments, stated that such measures are “of significant importance to Indonesia as we strive to build out an EV ecosystem”.

Speaking when IBIP was first announced in 2022, Robin Zeng, founder and chairman of CATL, commented that it is “an important milestone for CATL as we expand our global footprint”. The tier-1 supplier expects to use the produced batteries in domestic Indonesian manufacturing, as well as exporting them to other manufacturing sites.

CATL has made significant progress on its global expansion over the last year. In December, it announced a $4.3 billion gigafactory in Spain, developed in partnership with Stellantis. Similarly, in May, it raised $4 billion in funding through a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange aimed at financing the construction of a gigafactory in Hungary.

To learn more about the importance of a strong battery supply chain, check out our Top 10 EV & Battery Red Sofa list, featuring CATL’s overseas service network and development manager Saba Azizi: