Indonesia Wants Tesla To Invest In Their Country As An Electric Vehicle Battery Superpower

• Indonesia is currently setting plans in motion to meet with Tesla executives.
• A team sent by the government will try to convince the American electric vehicle manufacturer to invest in their rich nickel resources.

President Joko Widodo of Indonesia has openly declared he wants to turn his country into an electric vehicle battery superpower. In fact, he’s planning to send a team to Tesla, Inc. so they can meet with the executives and discuss about it.

In a Reuters interview, President Widodo confirmed  that the trip has already been scheduled and is part of the “Omnibus” Job Creation law.

Widodo, who has previously congratulated President-elect Joe Biden of the United States, shared the country “will send a large team to America and Japan, to promote the Omnibus.”

He also added:

“It’s very important because we have a great plan to make Indonesia the biggest producer of lithium batteries and we have the biggest nickel (reserves).”

The team will work under the leadership of Luhut Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment. Luhut commented that “there is really a good chance” for companies to show interest in Indonesia’s nickel processing industry to save on expenses.  

Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that he will definitely offer a “giant contract for a long period of time” if they get to prove that they are mining nickel “efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way.”

Presently, the American electric vehicle company has several battery suppliers but are showing great interest about the idea of tapping Indonesia’s abundant resources of nickel so they can produce their own batteries.

In fact, a CNBC Indonesia feature last month quoted Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang as saying that Tesla has plans to build a factory, although discussions are still ongoing, even specifying the potential location would be in Batang.