- The country has the world’s largest reserves of nickel and wants to make the most of it.
- Ford has committed $4.5 billion to a nickel processing facility in Indonesia.
- Tesla chief executive Elon Musk recently met with President Joko Widodo in Bali.
Indonesia has joined the long list of countries clamoring for Tesla to build a local facility with its coordinating minister of investment calling for Elon Musk to build an EV battery plant locally.
Musk recently met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo after attending the World Water Forum in Bali. While speaking with reporters after the event, Indonesia’s coordinating minister of investment Luhut Pandjaitan said the government made an offer to Musk, encouraging him to build a battery plant in the country.
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“We made an offer, is it possible to build an EV battery plant here, precursor cathode. And he will consider it,” Luhut told Reuters.
Over the weekend, Musk launched SpaceX’s internet service for the Indonesian health sector and the country’s president is eager for him to make additional investments in the country. In addition to a potential battery plant, Widodo asked Musk to consider investment in an artificial intelligence center in the country. He also told him to consider building a SpaceX launchpad on Biak Island in Indonesia’s Papua province.
Indonesia has courted Musk for several years in an attempt to develop a powerful EV sector using its rich resources of nickel. In March 2023, Ford signed an agreement with international partners to establish a $4.5 billion nickel processing facility in the country. This site will produce 120,000 tons of contained nickel per year and also includes a supply agreement for a precursor cathode material that will be used for Ford’s lithium-ion batteries.
The Southeast Asian country supplies 40% of the world’s nickel and may increase this to as much as 75% by 2030, Vietnam Plus reports. Indonesia wants to produce 600,000 EVs annually by 2030 and hopes that 50,000 BEVs will be sold locally this year.
