Tesla is again rumored to be near a deal for a major new battery venture in Indonesia after a new round of talks with officials and even CEO Elon Musk meeting with the Indonesian President Joko \u2018Jokowi\u2019 Widodo.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the first time that talks of Tesla making a major investment in Indonesia have emerged.<\/p>\n
In 2020, we reported on\u00a0Tesla allegedly being in talks with the Indonesian government to build a new nickel venture<\/a>\u00a0in the country, which has a strong nickel reserve.<\/p>\n Nickel is one of the main materials used in the production of cathodes for battery cells used in electric vehicles.<\/p>\n The move came after CEO Elon Musk\u00a0pleaded with mining companies to increase their nickel production<\/a>.<\/p>\n Later, we also learned that Tesla was actually in talks with Indonesia not just about nickel, but to possibly\u00a0build a full battery factory<\/a>\u00a0in the country.<\/p>\n As we detailed in our previous report on Tesla\u2019s interest in Indonesia, the country is one of the world\u2019s biggest nickel producers, but it has also recently put a ban on exporting nickel ore in order to encourage the industry to process it locally.<\/p>\n In short, the country is saying that if you want its resources, you are going to have to create jobs and process nickel locally or even produce the battery cells in the country.<\/p>\n The strategy has been working with\u00a0LG Ernergy signing a massive ~$10 billion deal to make batteries in Indonesia<\/a>. CATL also announced a large investment in battery production<\/a> in the country.<\/p>\n LG Energy and CATL are both suppliers of battery cells for Tesla, but now it looks like the automaker getting directly involved in Indonesia is back in the cards.<\/p>\n After a year without new information on Tesla\u2019s plans in Indonesia, the rumor mill is back in operation amid a new round of talks between Tesla and officials.<\/p>\n During an interview last week, CEO Elon Musk was directly asked if Tesla plans a battery or cathode factory in Indonesia and the CEO refused to comment.<\/p>\n Now we learned that while he was asked that question, Tesla actually had representatives in Indonesia to talk with government officials (via Reuters):<\/p>\n \u201cRepresentatives from Tesla were in Indonesia last week for meetings regarding a potential battery-related investment, Indonesian officials and two people familiar with the talks have said.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Rumors that the two parties are now closer to a deal are ramping up as Musk then met President Jokowi over the weekend.<\/p>\n They have reportedly met at Tesla Gigafactory Texas before Musk invited the President to visit SpaceX\u2019s facilities in Boca Chica, Texas:<\/p>\nA new round of talks with Tesla and Musk meets President Jokowi<\/h2>\n
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