Indonesia's Electric Battery Factory in Karawang Set to Begin Operations in July 2026

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The electric battery factory owned by Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC), in collaboration with Ningbo Contemporary Brunp Lygend (CBL) or CATL, in Karawang is scheduled to have a commercial operation date (CoD) in July 2026. Currently, the operation preparation for the Contemporary Amperex Technology Indonesia Battery (CATIB) plant has reached 90%. The inaugural operation is expected to be inaugurated by President of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto. Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC) President Director Aditya Farhan Arif explained that the electric battery plant will have a production capacity of 6.9 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year. ‘COD will be in July. Possibly at the end of the month,’ Aditya said during a MIND ID Club discussion in Jakarta, quoted on Tuesday (19/5/2026). When this Karawang factory becomes operational, it will produce two types of electric batteries: nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP). The share will be NMC 20% and LFP 80%. ‘The output of the two types, in terms of ratio, the LFP will be much larger at 80%,’ Aditya stressed. LFP batteries are typically used for electric vehicles and also battery energy storage systems (BESS), including energy storage at solar power plants (PLTS) and data centres. Meanwhile NMC is used only for electric vehicles. Who are the buyers? Aditya added that the company already has potential buyers, especially for LFP batteries. This also depends on the needs of the Agen Tunggal Pemegang Merk (ATPM) in the domestic market. According to Aditya, IBC, as the developer of electric batteries, sees very promising future markets, supported by the growing use of electric vehicles and the demand for electricity storage systems in the form of BESS. ‘Besides the local market, we are also targeting exports for the NMC batteries to Germany, where many manufacturers use them. For BESS (i.e., LFP), we are aiming at Japan,’ he said. To support the ambition to develop a global electric battery industry ecosystem, IBC also continues to develop human resources (HR) in the company. This is done by sending 600 workers to China to study battery technology. ‘We want to produce engineers who focus on battery development. In addition, we are also collaborating with universities here,’ he said.