Indonesia and China announce battery factory that might exist by 2026 if everyone remembers.
In a bold move guaranteed to impress investors, environmentalists, and people who love a good timeline extension, Indonesia has announced plans for a shiny new lithium-ion battery plant, due to be operational by the end of 2026—or “whenever we get around to it.”
The project, a joint venture between Indonesia Battery Corporation and Chinese battery behemoth CATL (who apparently had a few billion dollars lying around), promises an initial output of 6.9 gigawatt hours, which according to energy officials is “a large number and therefore very impressive.”
But wait—there’s more! By some point in the future (details TBC), the plant might expand to produce 15 GWh, or even 40 GWh, if someone in management casually waves a hand and says “solar panels too, why not?” during a PowerPoint presentation.
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From Nickel to Not Quite Finished
The whole scheme is part of a $6 billion power battery project signed back in 2022, when optimism was high and spreadsheets were full of colourful graphs. The deal covers everything from nickel mining to battery manufacturing and even recycling—because nothing says “sustainability” like digging half of eastern Indonesia out of the ground and putting it back slightly more neatly later.
The new factory will be built in West Java, with the rest of the supporting projects scattered across North Maluku, a region rich in nickel and, conveniently, far enough away from Jakarta to avoid regular progress-checking by central government officials.
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Bold Targets, Even Bolder Guesswork
Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia—fresh from a groundbreaking ceremony and several rounds of vague forecasting—claimed the plant could one day help store energy from solar panels, bringing the total production capacity to 40 GWh.
When asked for a timeline, officials referred journalists to “ongoing discussions with the project owner,” which in government-speak loosely translates to “don’t hold your breath.”
Meanwhile, Indonesia has set itself the modest goal of producing 600,000 electric vehicles by 2030, which is roughly 13 times last year’s total and exactly the kind of target you set when you enjoy making graphs but hate follow-up meetings.
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Government Spokesperson Quote of the Week:
“It’s a very exciting time for Indonesian industry. Please ignore the bit where none of this exists yet.”
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