Indonesia Bets on SE Asia's first battery plant to become EV hub

Rows of robotic arms move with precision to assemble nickel-based battery cells on the production line at Indonesia's inaugural electric vehicle battery plant, the first in Southeast Asia. After being chosen by a joint venture of South Korea's Hyundai and LG for the $1.1 billion factory, Indonesia is now looking to boost investment to give it an edge in the race to become a regional EV hub.

During the opening of the West Java plant in July, then-President Joko Widodo said such investments would make Southeast Asia's biggest economy an "important global player" in the EV supply chain. It also has some way to go to rival Thailand, which Krungsri bank said had market share of 78.7 percent of Southeast Asia's EV sales as of early 2023, with Indonesia following with eight percent.