Hyundai signs up for EV production in Indonesia
Hyundai is ready to sign a deal with the Indonesian government to build an electric car plant in Karawang on the Indonesian island of Java. The Korean manufacturer will invest around one billion US dollars in the project.
If it all comes together, Hyundai will sign the contract for the plant this November. Chung Eui-Sun, Senior Vice Chairman of the Hyundai Motor Group recently met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo to seek the government’s support for Hyundai’s investment in the Southeast Asian country.
Today, Hyundai confirmed the meeting via Twitter with Hyundai Motor Group’s Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) Euisun Chung saying that Indonesian President Joko Widodo had offered full support for the company to enter the Indonesian market.
The Indonesian news outlet Antara News Agency reported that Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for maritime affairs confirmed the signing date for the contract in November on the fringes of the ASEAN summit. According to the minister, Hyundai has already secured the Karawang site.
In early 2018, the Indonesian government revealed a road map to enable the country’s transition to electric transport, to increase its manufacturing capacity, and to make use of the local nickel and cobalt production capacities, essential elements in EV batteries. Last week news broke that a consortium consisting of Tesla, CATL, LG Chem, Daimler and Volkswagen would build a factory for battery raw materials in Indonesia. VW informed electrive.com that no decision had been made yet.
Indonesia is currently the second-largest manufacturer of vehicles in the region after Thailand and intends to expand this capability. Since the government introduced its roadmap, Toyota has announced investing $2 billion in the development of electric vehicles in Indonesia over the next four years and Indonesian ministers told Reuters in December 2018, that Hyundai was intending to invest 880 billion towards electric vehicle production in the country, which now appears to be coming to fruition.
Its seems that Hyundai is greatly expanding its production network: According to Business Korea, Hyundai also plans to convert a production plant in Chongqing, China, into an electric car plant. In cooperation with Hyundai’s China partner BAIC, an electric version of the Hyundai Lafesta limousine will roll off the production line there from September. Just days ago, Business Korea reported that Hyundai intends to produce its fully electric Kona in its Czech plant from the first half of 2020.
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