Indonesia poised to secure 'giant contract' from Tesla
Shaun · Nov 18, 2020 06:34 PM
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The president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, said he will send a high-level team to meet with top executives of U.S. automaker Tesla as the country aims to become the world’s biggest producer of electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
The meeting may have already gone underway as we speak. More popularly known by the name Jokowi, the president told Reuters in an interview last Friday that the trip will be part of Indonesia’s promotion of its new, so-called “Omnibus” Job Creation law, which simplifies doing business in Indonesia.
President Jokowi wants Indonesia to pull ahead of Thailand, by leveraging on the EV revolution
“Next week we will send a large team to America and Japan, to promote the Omnibus,” Jokowi said. “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),” he added.
Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has said he is planning to offer a “giant contract for a long period of time” so long as the nickel is mined “efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way”.
Indonesia holds 25 percent of the world’s nickel reserves, a crucial element in the manufacture of high voltage batteries for EVs. If it plays its cards right, Indonesia can become the Arabia of the EV era.
The quest for automotive knowledge began as soon as the earliest memories. Various sources information, even questionable ones, have been explored including video games, television, magazines, or even internet forums. Still stuck in that rabbit hole.
