JAKARTA (TheinsiderStories) - An American electric vehicle (EV) and clean energy firm, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), has almost reached an agreement to build a battery factory in Indonesia. To realize this plan, President Joko Widodo will send a team to meet the company’ leaders next week.
As reported, the company lead by Elon Musk, is interested in establishing a new battery factory in the country. To note, the manufacturer is trying to get more nickel supplies to support the production of electric cars. Currently, the company buying the battery supplies from Panasonic and CATL and is trying to have its own battery producer.
Last October, senior minister for maritime and investment, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, admitted has been contacted Tesla on the planned. He stated, “I just called Tesla in America, they are also interested in building a lithium battery in Indonesia, because they see that Indonesia has the largest nickel ore reserves in the world.”
The producer, he added, is looking to build a lithium battery raw material factory in Indonesian Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) area, located in the Central Sulawesi province. Last year, the industrial park has collected US$5 billion investment.
The area owned two million tons capacity nickel pig iron production and 3.5 million tons of stainless steel. By the new lithium battery factory, Indonesia is expected to slash more import for the sake of decreasing the current account deficit. Pandjaitan considered the action important to make Indonesia more independent.
Pandjaitan explained that Tesla is amongst several companies looking to build battery manufacturing facilities in Indonesia. CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology), the largest battery manufacturer for electric vehicles in China, is apparently in the most advanced stages of the project, but LG and Tesla are also involved, said the minister.
“CATL is the one that entered Morowali, then it and LG were the major players. Tesla also joined it, but how much, I did not know. I do not know about Tesla’s role, as their consortium is the one regulating it,” Pandjaitan said.
Provided that the facility does break ground, Tesla’s lithium battery raw material factory in Indonesia will reportedly be aiming for completion in around three years.
“Maybe (if it is completed) in the next three years. My batteries in the next three years would have become better, maybe faster. I think it must be the biggest because we are all, and our costs are cheaper because of the costs,” he said.
Similar factories, he said, are being negotiated to be built in Karawang, Purwakarta and Bekasi, West Java. The investment can bring the product closer to the Hyundai Motor Corp., electric car factory.
Panjaitan revealed, the government is already preparing to welcome the arrival of the massive battery companies, including the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker. This is in line with the plan of the industry ministry to bring an investment in the automotive sector around Rp100 trillion ($7.14 billion). This target is planned to be achieved in the next five years.
According to him, a number of new investors have been interested in entering the field of supporting components of EV, such as batteries. However, the details of the investment have not been conveyed because they are still in the process of discussion with related parties.
Currently, there are two large factories that are ready to invest in electric vehicles in Indonesia, namely Hyundai and Toyota. The total investment reaches Rp50 trillion for the next five years. For Toyota, the investment value reached $2 billion for the next four years.
US$1: Rp14,000
Written by Editorial Staff, Email: theinsiderstories@gmail.com
