This photo provided Hyundai Motor Group shows an aerial view of HLI Green Power, an EV battery plant built jointly with LG Energy Solution in Indonesia, July 3. Yonhap

Hyundai Motor Group said Wednesday it has completed construction of an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant built jointly with LG Energy Solution in Indonesia, allowing the Korean automotive giant a fully-integrated EV production system in the Southeast Asian nation.

Hyundai Motor Group said it held a completion ceremony for the Hyundai LG Indonesia Green Power (HLI Green Power) battery plant in Karawang New Industry City, a manufacturing hub located in East Jakarta of the Southeast Asian country.

The group's separate car manufacturing plant in Indonesia plant will begin mass production of the KONA Electric EV starting this month using battery cells produced by HLI Green Power, Hyundai said.

From the opening of HLI Green Power, Hyundai Motor Group said it has established a local integrated production system in Indonesia — from EV battery cells to finished vehicles — allowing a strategic advantage in the Southeast Asian EV market beyond Indonesia.

According to Hyundai, HLI Green Power has started production since the second quarter of this year.

The completion ceremony was held in the presence of 300 dignitaries and guests from Indonesia and Korea.

They included Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, as well as Korean Trade Minister Chung In-kyo, Euisun Chung, executive chair of Hyundai Motor Group, Chang Jae-hoon, CEO and president of Hyundai Motor Co., and LG Energy Solution CEO Kim Dong-myung.

In his congratulatory speech, Chung said the completion of the plant and the mass production of the Kona Electric in the country were the fruits of the collaboration between Hyundai Motor Group and Indonesia.

He added Hyundai Motor and Indonesia are shaping the future of the EV ecosystem together, not only in Asia but globally, while setting new standards for potential customers in the Southeast Asian region.

Chung also pledged that his automotive group will further strengthen cooperation with the nation in other areas as well, including in hydrogen solution and future air mobility.

Spanning a total area of 320,000 square meters, HLI Green Power houses electrode processing, assembly and activation processes facilities, and has an annual output capacity of 10 gigawatt-hours, sufficient for over 150,000 EVs.

The battery cells produced here will be used not only in EVs manufactured at Hyundai's Indonesian plant but also in various Hyundai and Kia models in other countries.

The Kona Electric is the second EV model to be produced at Hyundai's Indonesian plant, following the Ioniq 5. Hyundai anticipates the Kona Electric to play a significant role in the growth of the Indonesian EV market.

Under a goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, Indonesia has announced an ambitious policy to foster its EV industry, including a target to produce 600,000 EVs by 2030. (Yonhap)