Indonesia is calling on investors to fund projects as it positions itself to launch a lithium-ion cell manufacturing industry within three years.
The country’s coordinating minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs, Luhut Pandjaitan, wants the country to start making cells for the electric vehicle market by 2023.
Pandjaitan said the government is looking at Patimban on the island of Java as a potential location for building the plants.
The minister wants the manufacturing facilities to be implemented alongside plants that are slated to produce chemicals extracted from nickel ore, according to news source Reuters.
Pandjaitan said the country was in coordination with GEM Co and Contemporary Amperex Technology to build lithium-ion battery plants in Indonesia, reported the news agency.
The companies and their partners, who include stainless steel maker Tsingshan Holding Group, are building Indonesia’s first plant to produce battery chemicals.
GEM expects to start trial production at its Indonesian battery chemicals plant in August 2020, with the first phase of operations completed by the end of next year.
Last month, battery separators firm Entek broke ground on a plant in Bogor, Java island.
