Tesla cars stand at the construction site of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 20, 2022. Portal/Hannibal Hanschke/
JAKARTA, Aug 8 (Portal) – US automaker Tesla (TSLA.O) has signed deals worth about $5 billion to buy materials for its batteries from nickel processing companies in Indonesia, a senior cabinet minister has told CNBC Indonesia.
Southeast Asia’s largest economy has tried to persuade Tesla to set up a manufacturing facility in the country, which has large reserves of nickel. President Joko Widodo met with Tesla founder Elon Musk earlier this year to mobilize investment. Continue reading
“We are still in ongoing negotiations with Tesla… but they have started buying two excellent products from Indonesia,” Coordinating Minister of Marine and Investment Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said in an interview broadcast on Monday.
He said Tesla has signed a five-year deal with nickel processing companies operating out of Morowali on the island of Sulawesi. The nickel materials are used in Tesla’s lithium batteries.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a Portal email asking for comment.
Indonesia is eager to develop electric vehicle and battery industries domestically and had halted exports of nickel ore to ensure supplies for investors. The move had successfully attracted investment from Chinese steel giants and South Korean companies such as LG and Hyundai.
However, most nickel investments have so far gone into the production of raw metals such as nickel pig iron and ferronickel.
The government plans to impose export taxes on these metals to boost revenue while encouraging domestic production of higher value products, a senior official told Portal last week.
Reporting by Fransiska Nagoy; Adaptation by Kanupriya Kapoor
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